His Body is Made of Swords
by xolef225
Summary: Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain. That phrase defined him since the day of his birth. However, the words of a certain magus allowed him to finally break free from the shackles that made him Shirou Emiya. The counterforce would not acknowledge the contract of a man who didn't exist, so where else could he go, other than back to the beginning?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N) This story comes from the heart, but also a place of salt and anger. In a way, this is a way for me to cope with the fact that I just blew 2100 saint quartz on the fgo Jalter banner, and not a single Jalter in sight. Instead, I got Lobo (did it ever hurt my soul to see that gold avenger card flip into a headless horseman), three miscellaneous SSRs (not terrible, but what are the odds!?) and twelve (TWELVE) Emiyas.

Now, I don't hate Emiya, but I didn't need twelve of him.

I'm hoping that if I write a Shirou-centric story, it'll be enough for fgo to stop sending me copies of him.

Fuck you Jalter. Please come home.

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the read since I _do _have things planned for this.

X

The longer his head of red hair remained in my line of sight, the more I felt like driving a sword through his gut.

It wasn't that I hated him, or anything. Really, it was more like euthanizing an animal to put it out of its misery– _my _misery, rather. The way I see it, If he kicks the bucket then either I die too, or at least he'll be shut up for good.

A cold shiver ran down my spine. It seemed like my troublesome master was aware of my intentions, on some level.

I turned to face Rin, who had her attention split between yelling at my moronic younger self and making sure that I didn't go off and do something that wasn't part of _her _game plan.

Again.

I frowned as I remembered _that _particular incident. When the witch died, that should have been it for me. Relying on my Independent Action class skill, I would've kidnapped Rin in a last-ditch effort to confront the red-haired idiot.

It didn't go that way for me, though.

Somehow, Saber had managed to remain within the kid's grasp, and Rin did something so _stupid_, I'm actually quite surprised the idea came from someone as smart as her.

She formed another contract with me.

And so, here I was. Back at the old man's place, in my astral form overseeing my young charge discussing how to finish off the grail _and_ Gilgamesh with Saber and the idiot.

"Tohsaka, Saber, you two should deal with Grail," proposed the idiot. "I'll go with Archer to deal with–"

"Hold on," I interjected. I took a physical form and sat at the kotatsu with the rest of them, so great was the affront. Rin's piercing glare told me that she didn't like where this was going. "What makes you think that _I'd _help _you _take out the golden bastard?"

To his credit, the idiot didn't miss a beat. "You and I have the best chances of beating him. For whatever reason, our magecraft is pretty similar, and as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like mine improves the longer I'm near you.

Heh. And I wonder why _that_ is.

I made myself comfortable. Leaning back on my elbows, I retorted, "So what? Kill him yourself. If I'm lucky, maybe you'll both die."

"Jackass…" he snarled.

What. Was he angry at me or something? Good. Maybe he'll actually try to do it if only to prove me wrong.

That was the problem with him; the problem with _me_. _Shirou Emiya _wants to be the hero, no matter the cost.

What did that mean, exactly? If I knew that, then I probably wouldn't be in this shitty predicament, now would I?

"Fine then," he huffed. "I'll–"

SLAM

"That's enough!"

All of us stared dumbly at Rin. I don't think any of us expected an outburst like that from her.

I stared down at the kotatsu and noted the thin crack caused by Rin's palm in an act of fury. She didn't use reinforcement, did she?

What a frightening master I have.

"Archer. Come with me."

Her tone of voice left no room for argument.

Resigned, I closed my eyes and sighed. "Yes, Master."

Sluggishly, I lifted myself from the floor. I doubt that she appreciated me dragging it out.

Before I could find my footing, I was already being pulled into the hallway. I saw Saber purposely ignoring my hardship and the idiot looking at me smugly.

Bastard.

"What is it, Master?" I asked once we were alone.

"Why, Shirou…" she whispered.

"Hey. Don't call me–"

"_Why._ I'm trying _so hard _to make sure that he doesn't end up like you, so why is it that you're doing everything in your power to destroy him like that? To destroy _all _of us like that?"

I pointedly ignored her question. It was a pretty stupid one, after all.

He can't be like me if he's dead.

"Destroy you? This has nothing to do with you."

She was stunned. Her silence was kind of unnerving, to be frank.

Eventually, though, she _did _speak.

"Nothing to do with me?" she sounded incredulous. "You have the _audacity _to say this has nothing to do with me?"

"Of course not." I was merely deflecting, but I was in too deep to back out now.

She chuckled. It wasn't a happy chuckle, rather one that promised pain.

"It hurts, you know? My dreams are terrorized by visions of your life. But… what frightens me more than the terrors you saw is your path of self-destruction. We all left, one by one."

What was her point? "Then that just proves it, right? There's nothing you can do about it, and eventually, you'll realize that."

"I'm _trying _to do something about it, but _you won't let me_!" she all but screamed. "After all this time, you still don't realize why everyone left, do you?"

Stupid girl. I'd lived for eternity and _longer. _Of course, I know _now, _after years of thought. "They left because of my own mistakes. They realized there was no helping a man too absorbed in his own ideals. Don't worry, Rin. I've long since come to peace with that. Soon enough, you will too."

She looked at me with… pity? "You're wrong."

I narrowed my eyes. "Oh? Is that so."

"You're wrong Shirou. None of them… none of _us _stopped caring. Seeing someone we love so much destroy themselves like that… it hurt us more than we could ever bear."

Despite myself, I became defensive. "What occurred was simply the _result _of isolating myself. _Not _the other way around."

"Was it, really?" she retorted.

It was. It _was_.

"Yes."

"You'll never make anyone happy as long as you can't make yourself happy first, Shirou. My father died when I was young, but even _I _know that's one of the first words of wisdom a parent imparts to a child– and he was a magus!"

"My happiness was brought by a dream that could only bring misery!" Before I knew it, I was yelling too.

Her brow, which had long since pulled itself taught into a distressed snarl, relaxed. She took a deep breath, then much to my surprise, settled on a serene smile that I'd very rarely seen on her face.

_Never _on _this _Rin's face.

"Then it didn't really make you happy, now did it?"

I'd like to say that the words were caught in my mouth, but that would be a lie. I hadn't thought of a single thing to say in return.

I was speechless.

"…Rin, are… are you…"

She walked right by me, intending on getting back to the others. Before she turned the corner, she stopped with her back facing me.

"Of course not, dummy."

Once I was sure no one could see me, I smiled. A single tear ran down my cheek.

"Yeah, of course not. Thank you."

I don't know who I was speaking to, but I'm happy I said it, for whatever reason.

I took up my astral form once again and followed my master back into the room. To my surprise, rather than the scene I was expecting –a servant and two masters discussing plans to end the Grail War– I found three friends sitting at a kotatsu, plates of food being the only thing between them.

"Yo, Tohsaka. You were away for a while so I made us a light snack."

"My thanks, Emiya," Rin smiled. "However, I don't believe that either one of us will get to eat much of it.

Saber tuned them both out, happily eating as much of the idiot's food as she could before it was all gone.

What was it that she would say? Hunger is the enemy, was it?

I gazed at the trio, noting that the mood had lightened considerably. It was evident to me that they'd moved on from the topic at hand.

…But who was _I _to say anything? It wasn't my problem whether or not they succeeded.

From where I was, I continued to watch over them for the rest of the night. As an outsider, I could see how much they were enjoying themselves.

Part of me was happy for them, I couldn't deny. The other part was fuming, cursing my younger self for all it was worth as Rin's earlier words came back to me.

_You'll never make anyone happy as long as you can't make yourself happy first_

You idiot. You absolute idiot.

_It didn't really make you happy, now did it?_

Admittedly, I'm still an idiot now, if Rin's words were to be believed.

I had sights locked in on the group. After their meal, Saber and the idiot washed the dishes while Rin made tea. Not being used to each other at first, they kept getting in each other's way in their tasks. However, it didn't take them long to find a comfortable balance, and before I knew it, they'd fallen into a rhythm.

They looked happy.

Shirou Emiya looked happy.

Why was it that I had never been able to understand it before? Was it because this is the first time I've seen my life from a perspective other than my own?

It couldn't be. I've been chasing after others by the name of Shirou Emiya for countless years.

…Then again, maybe it's because I've been _chasing_, rather than observing.

Rin was always right about me. I'm unobservant to the bone.

X

I watched from a distance as the idiot put up an admirable fight against the King of Heroes. As prolonged exposure to me had not only awakened his circuits, but also accelerated the progression of his reality marble, my younger self was able to counter every Noble Phantasm with a copy almost instantly.

A voice in my head whispered that this was my chance to take out one of the two, if not both of them, while they were distracted. My issues with that, however, were twofold.

On one hand, I could never be sure that I'd actually manage to take out Gilgamesh. Arrogant he may be, but I would never underestimate him enough to write off any attempt on his life as a sure thing.

On the other hand, I could no longer kill Shirou Emiya. Rin seemed convinced that she'd be able to pull him off the wretched path that would lead him straight to me. Who am I to deny her the challenge?

…

My jaw clenched. I had great difficulty admitting it, _or understanding the true magnitude of it_, but the death of my younger, moronic self would mean that I would hurt Rin greatly. Her, Saber, and others who's names I can no longer remember– hurting them would be akin to hurting my "happiness".

I had yet to fully grasp the concept.

And so, I kept my distance. I didn't help –as Rin hadn't given me any instructions since the previous night– yet I didn't interfere, either.

I was stuck in every sense.

I was starting to think that I had a clue that would help me break away from my father's "gift" to a broken child; that _thing _that sealed my fate since the day I was reborn. Unfortunately, that fate of mine had come and gone countless years ago.

It was too late for me.

From where I stood, I could clearly make out the form of the King of Heroes' most cherished possession, the Divine Chain Enkidu, ensnare the idiot. Axes, spears, swords, and other such weapons of great renown hung ominously behind the golden servant.

"Enough!" shouted Gilgamesh, loud enough to be heard as far away as I was. "This is the end, Faker!"

It was almost a casual observation of mine that the idiot would have no chance of surviving. Another was that I already had my bowstring in hand, ready to intercept the attack.

Returning to my previous thought, all hopes were over for me. For the boy, however, as long as I'm willing to put my faith in Rin…

Hrunting shot from my bow, its target in its sight.

"It's not too late for you, Shirou Emiya."

With those words, I let my bow disperse. I watched as Gilgamesh was forced to release his target in order to defend against the impromptu slight on his person.

I materialized at the side of my younger self. "Boy, go find my master. She'll need your help to destroy the grail."

It was bullshit. Rin didn't need help. Not his, at least.

He looked at me strangely, as if to ask if I would be fine on my own. It sickened me to be the object of his worry.

"Go," ordered.

Thankfully, he didn't need to be told a third time. As Enkidu was no longer holding him in place, he was free to do just that.

I was alone with the eighth servant, now. I couldn't tell if his look was wrathful or inquisitive.

"Oh? Another one, is it?"

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I didn't want to waste time finding out.

Kanshou and Bakuya, the married twin swords, were my preferred blades. Far from my strongest, they more than made up for their downsides with the versatility they brought.

A shower of weapons, each greater than the last, came crashing down on me. While my younger self was content to match the firepower, I knew better. My tools would never truly match his, but his prowess in combat would not match my own. I chose instead to stick to two simple projections brought upon the world by my supposed "Noble Phantasm".

Acting every bit the trained warrior that I was, I deflected blades where I could, and weaved through them where I couldn't. My opponent remained impassive, simply increasing his firepower.

To my dismay, it worked. My advance had slowed. I was in no position to leech any more mana from Rin than I had to, so I figured I should end things as quickly as I could.

I took a deep breath. I would end the King of Heroes before he could find a need to bring out his Sword of Rupture.

**"I am the bone of my sword."**

I felt the mystery of my craft empower me. As my reality marble began to manifest, Gaia's influence lessened, giving me access to part of my heavier arsenal.

I barely scraped by the agile grasp of Enkidu. I knew that my only choice at this point was to fully manifest my trump card.

**"S…t…!?"**

For less than a moment, my mind stopped working. Unfortunately for me, a moment was all the time Gilgamesh needed to capture me with his chains.

Why!? Why couldn't I find the right words for my aria? I knew them: steel is my body, and fire is my blood. That was the next part, right?

And yet, I couldn't say them. I was incapable of invoking the full might of my Unlimited Blade Works.

What did that mean?

I was as upset and frustrated as I was confused. I had spent _decades _mastering my craft. It was the one thing unique to me, Shirou–

_It didn't really make you happy, now did it?_

I shivered.

The Archer class servant before me stared down at me with disinterest, bringing down a golden axe on my neck with a mighty swing.

I needed to focus.

Four nameless Noble Phantasms intercepted the golden weapon. The distraction gave me enough time to prepare something I didn't do too often.

The modified sword of the King of Ulster, Caladbolg II, hung in the air between us with the help of magecraft. Rather than strung on a bow –my hands were tied, quite literally– I'd use it as a projectile of a different sort.

"Trace bullet."

Caladbolg II, along with many other swords I made on the spot, hummed with energy mere inches away from their target. There's no way my opponent could react in time, servant or not.

I grit my teeth. This would probably hurt me just as much as it hurt him.

"Fire."

BOOM

A large explosion enveloped our surroundings. It was far from the first thing on my mind, but I _did _feel Enkidu release me from its grasp.

The first thing on my mind was actually trying to figure out if I still had limbs.

Smoke cleared, and now I had a clear sight of what remained of my surroundings.

…There wasn't much.

Movement caught the corner of my eye.

I could ascertain that I did, at least, still have my legs. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to jump out of the way of the obscenely large sword that pierced the piece of land I previously occupied.

"You're a persistent one, aren't you?"

Despite sounding nonchalant, I knew for a fact that Gilgamesh was far from it right now. He did a terrible job of masking the snarl on his lips.

Giving him a once over, I couldn't say I blamed him.

His arm– no, the entire left side of his torso was blown clean off. I congratulated myself, knowing that he would've been dead if he wasn't a heroic spirit.

I knew that if I wanted to finish this, it would be now, or never.

I traced my bow, a tool strong enough to fire Noble Phantasms consecutively. In one swift motion I–

I looked to my opposite shoulder, and grimaced. It would seem that the golden servant wasn't the only one missing half an upper body.

No matter.

A certain red spear materialized in my remaining hand. While its wielder would use it quite famously as a war tool for slashing and stabbing, it functioned splendidly when thrown.

There would be no mistakes here.

**"Gae…"**

The spear of Cu Chulainn left my grip, thrown as if by a man who'd been throwing javelins for a time eternal.

**"Bolg!"**

Gilgamesh tried to parry the weapon, but it was a futile attempt.

The spear was thrown, and so the heart was pierced.

SQUELCH

I couldn't help my smug grin when I saw the bastard's incredulous glare pointed right at me, right as globs of blood came pumping out of his mouth.

The King of Heroes was strong, but he underestimated me to his last breath. I didn't know if that deserved to be admired, or ridiculed.

I won.

"Haha–eughk…. Shit…"

I fell to my knees, the laughter being too much for my body to bear. As the golden servant scattered in motes of light, I had a feeling that I would be joining him soon.

"Archer!"

Weakly, I turned to face my back. Running towards me was my master, Saber, and the idiot.

"Why are you yelling, master? You're too loud," I joked. Hopefully, some humour would distract her from the fact that my imminent death meant that she lost the war.

"Shut up, idiot! Look at you, you're a mess!"

…No such luck.

I felt a tingle of amusement seeing one of the people closest to my heart try their best to save a dying dead person. "Your energy is best spent elsewhere."

"…Put a sock in it."

Truly, what is one to do with a master like this?

"Do you think you'll be able to do it?" I asked her while looking at my younger self. "Do you think you'll be able to save him from himself?"

I felt her hands clench over my torn cloak, then relax. She pulled away with a resigned, yet determined look in her eyes.

"I promise."

For the first time in… ever, maybe, I addressed the idiot without purposely antagonizing him. "You should thank her, boy. Because of her, you might actually have a chance at finding true happiness."

"What do you mean?" he asked in an uncertain tone. Why he didn't outright contradict me out of principle, I don't know.

I pointed to my master, then to Saber. As I spoke, I felt as though I was affirming something to myself, rather than him. "_They're_ your happiness, and you should put your happiness before all else."

…I probably should've phrased that in a way a dumbass like him would understand– accept, even. He didn't look convinced at all. On the other hand, both Rin and Saber were red in the face.

"I don't know what you're saying, but I'll definitely keep them safe."

I smiled brightly. I can't remember the last time I felt so… free.

"Of course you don't. I know _bricks _less thick-headed than you. If you're lucky, though, maybe one day you will."

The Heaven's Feel ceased to anchor my soul to the world. I disappeared like I was never there to begin with.

It was time for me to resume my duty. One would think that I'd be bitter at the thought –that my place was among the counterforce and not the throne of heroes– but I'd long since moved past that. All that remained was resignation.

Besides. I couldn't say things ended on too terrible a note. I would return to Alaya's side with a different perspective, though it could be argued that I never truly left her, to begin with.

…Something was wrong.

The state I was in could best be described as "limbo", but I shouldn't have been in it for this long. Where once I would have been recalled by a higher power, I was now trying to find my own way back.

A man cloaked in red appeared before me.

_I _appeared before me.

_You don't belong here._

What? But it's my duty! I've formed a contract.

_Our contract was with another. He wished to save as many as he could in exchange for his existence._

But that's– I'm the one! I don't understand!

I don't understand.

I… don't understand.

_Our contract was with another._

Rin's words cycled in my head, over, and over, and over, and–

X

I woke up to fire.

Weakly, my head turned to the left, then to the right. My neck felt strained on my shoulders; I couldn't remember the last time my body felt so heavy.

People were screaming as they were burnt alive. Buildings crumbled, crushed, and destroyed.

Nothing was safe from this hell.

It was a hell I remembered clearly.

Once, I abandoned those around me for the sake of my own survival. Now, I did nothing because I couldn't escape the paralysis of my own incredulity.

I looked down at whatever I could see of myself. Rather than a tall frame, hardened by the throes of combat, I found the arms and legs of a child.

Said arms and legs were trembling. I couldn't move from the pile of corpses that lay under me.

With my terribly degraded hearing, I could barely make out the sound of debris being thrown close by. The shadow of a man loomed over me.

I hadn't felt this much shock in ages.

I was sure he had died years ago, yet his eyes in this moment looked deader than a corpse ever could. He smiled at me, his expression one that I'd remembered through thick and thin; one that shaped me into the cursed existence that I'd become.

Once, I thought it was a beautiful smile. I _wanted _that smile.

Now, all I felt was pity.

Perhaps even a little confusion.


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N) As tears of joy trickle down my cheeks, I publish the second chapter in celebration of Jalter finally poppin' up. I didn't even know rainbow-coloured summons were a thing until it happened to me.

*Checks SQ spent* It was a pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Addressing the previous chapter, it occurred to me that I don't know if Gil would actually die like a servant since he has a flesh body and all that jazz. Oh well, I'll just ignore that bit for now.

Additionally, I'll be changing the names to last name/first name, since I've decided that the personalities of some of the characters are best demonstrated through Japanese linguistic conventions that rely on this format.

X

As I expected, I woke up in a hospital room.

…That wasn't true, actually. I _expected _this to be some sort of deranged dream that I'd snap out of any minute now. However, as it became apparent that it wasn't the case, I settled on going with the flow.

I grimaced as I remembered what likely landed me in this bed. My memory was a little foggy, but I could _still _feel the phantom pains of all my muscles failing me at once.

To my saviour, I probably seemed like a messed up wax doll when it happened.

I tentatively flexed my arm and was pleased to know that my lack of body control was but temporary.

I didn't know what happened, but I could only assume it was some sort of neurogenic shock caused by… however it was that I was actually here.

My head snapped to the curtain to my left, as I saw it being ruffled by something other than the draft of the open-concept space. Once I saw who passed over to my side, though, I managed to relax almost immediately. With any luck, he didn't notice my discomfort.

"Hey, kid," called out Kiritsugu. Next to him was probably the nurse that alerted him of my waking. I tried my best to keep my facial expression even as I met his gaze. "Do you remember what happened?"

I didn't answer for a moment, trying to figure out what I wanted to say– if anything at all.

The furrow of his brow told me that he was trying to figure out if my lack of verbal response meant that there was something wrong with me.

I eventually settled with, "You saved me from the fire."

His brow relaxed. "Mhm."

Kiritsugu moved to take a seat at the end of the bed, but thought better of it. "The doctor told me that they couldn't find any relatives of yours. Do you think you could give him a hand?"

I shook my head. "I can't remember."

It wasn't a lie, technically.

"Your name, then?"

Some days, I did wonder if I was ever given a name other than the one known to me. "Shirou."

Kiritsugu looked at the nurse strangely. "Would you mind giving us a second?"

Though the woman _did _do as he asked and left the room, I doubt she would've so readily obeyed his request if it wasn't for magecraft influencing her inclination on the matter.

"This might be a little forceful to ask right away, but what would you prefer? You can go to the orphanage with the rest of the kids here, or," he thumbed his collar bone, "you can come with me, a man you've just met."

…Really, right into it? Wow. I must have been pretty fucked up if I ever thought this was a good idea.

I pointed my finger at him.

Kiritsugu looked every part the mess he surely felt like. His hair was matted, his stubble was more prominent than it usually was and his clothes were disheveled. Even so, the soft smile that crossed his lips when I pointed at him betrayed all of that.

"Good, good!" He fumbled around with the briefcase he had with him. As it clicked open, he paused. "Oh, uh… There is one thing I suppose you should know. Might as well say it now rather than later.

"I am a magus."

I was beginning to think that my issues in life had less to do with my obsession with being a hero and more the fact that someone like this was allowed to raise a child at all. Then again, I doubted with great prejudice that the man went through any legal streams to get the paperwork.

Thanks, local Yakuza boss who's name I couldn't remember right now.

Once again I was taking too long to answer him, and I had a feeling that my paranoid adoptive father was trying to decide whether or not he should wipe my memory of everything he just said on the spot.

Decidedly, having someone mess with your memories was not fun. I got out of the bed and tried to make my intentions clear. "Are we leaving now?"

"…Yeah."

The way he was staring at me likely meant that he wasn't expecting me to be capable of moving on my own. Even if I _did _have Avalon in me.

…Come to think of it, I definitely felt the influence of Avalon's mystery on my body. That means that Avalon was inside me for the first time since I was a boy.

Erm, a boy the first time around.

I dressed in khaki shorts and a white t-shirt that I found folded at the end of my bed. My own clothes were definitely burnt beyond recognition, so I assumed it was a new pair laid out by either the hospital staff or Kiritsugu himself.

As he took me away, I tried not to meet the eyes of the other children in the hospital room. Many of them were likely orphaned by the tragedy that befell the city, so I doubted seeing a kid they considered to be in their shoes be taken in so readily sat well with them.

It wasn't anything I would have ever taken note of before, I wouldn't think. For all the claims my younger self made of being an individual who would save "everyone", things like empathy were beyond me.

Whether or not that's still the case now, I couldn't say for certain.

The taxi ride to the house was a quiet one, awkward due to the fact that neither Kiritsugu nor myself were expert conversationalists. The best I could manage was snark, and snark wasn't a good conversation starter.

The sound of power tools and other such heavy machinery assaulted my ears the moment we approached Kiritsugu's property. Scaffolding lined the bare walls of the Japanese mansion and various features I'd grown accustomed to –such as the flower garden– had yet to be added.

Watching the construction workers run freely through the house, I wondered if the old man had already removed all traces of magecraft from the area.

My eyes fell to the inconspicuous shed nearby.

Maybe not, then.

"Shirou," my adoptive father got my attention. "Sorry, but I'm having… renovations done to the place. It might be awkward getting around for a while, more so since you aren't accustomed to this yet."

"Can I… help?" I asked, looking at the men and women doing their job. I never liked to see others hard at work while I sat back on my laurels.

"No, no," Kiritsugu denied me, likely trying to be accommodating. Unfortunately, all that accomplished was assure I'd be restless by the end of the hour. "Instead, let's go inside and get your schooling sorted out."

"My schooling?" I parroted tentatively.

"Yeah. You're about the age where one would enroll, I'd think. Since we couldn't find any existing records, we'll have to start from scratch."

That was another thing I never understood, though admittedly I didn't try that hard to understand it in the first place. I may have been orphaned by the fire, but that did little in the ways of explaining why there was not a single piece of legal documentation or identification in my name.

Quietly, I followed the man into a barren room that would one day be the dining area, as the bare-bones kitchen was my reference point.

It hurt me to see the kitchen in such an abandoned state.

We sat cross-legged on the tatami. Kiritsugu pulled out papers from his briefcase –school registration papers, I noted– and placed them between us. I chose to ignore the fact that any paperwork I'd needed thus far was conveniently stored close by.

"Starting next week, you'll be attending Homurahara Elementary School. It's within walking distance, so I'll show you the way on foot."

I nodded. There wasn't much for me to say.

…Though the more I thought about it, going through Japan's educational system with a bunch of grade-schoolers was going to be a pain, wasn't it?

X

The gravity of my situation probably hadn't been cemented in my head, that much I knew. On the other hand, that process had been accelerated a good amount the moment I stepped out in front of my new…

Well, I wouldn't exactly call them peers.

The crowd of six and seven-year-olds looked at me curiously, probably wondering why there was a student transferring in near the end of the school year. Truthfully, part of me wondered the same thing.

As the teacher signaled for me to introduce myself, I spoke clearly, "Hello, everyone. I'm Emiya Shirou. Please take care of me."

It was a little short and to the point, but I doubt any of the students cared.

"Thank you, Emiya. Please, take the empty seat next to Tohsaka."

I did just that. Gently so as not to make too much noise, I pulled the chair back and moved to Rin's–

Hold on.

I blinked owlishly. Rin? Tohsaka Rin?

It didn't occur to me that she was ever in my class this far back. Then again, it's not something I would have remembered either way, since I didn't actually know her properly until my second year of Highschool– or at least, that's what it seemed like whenever I saw my younger self's interactions with her during the grail war.

She noticed me staring. I could _see _the effort she was putting into _not_ making a face of disgust at some random kid looming over her.

She smiled. "Yes?"

I shook my head. I'd deal with all of this later… or not at all. I hadn't decided yet.

"It's nothing."

I finally took my seat. To my embarrassment, it had just occurred to me that the class had been waiting on me to start the lesson.

The teacher began speaking about some sort of basic mathematic method that was more or less common sense to someone who'd lived as long as me. As if a spell were cast on my person, draining me of any attention I might have otherwise paid, my chin dropped into my open palm. I could already feel my eyes grow heavy and lidded.

It was some thirty or forty minutes later that I felt a piercing glare directed at me. Inconspicuously, my eyes rolled to the side to catch Rin, twitching brow and all, face me with a fury that told me that I'd personally offended her.

Not that I found that to be a particularly difficult task, mind you.

Honestly, at such a young age, it was impressive how much Rin could act like _Rin._

I decided that I needn't pay her any mind for now, and turned my unfocused vision back to my front.

I'd soon learn that was a mistake.

X

"Emiya-kun," a saccharine voice chimed behind me.

Nary a step away from being free from the classroom, I sighed and turned around to face chibi Rin.

"Is there something that I can help you with, Tohsaka?"

I didn't mean for that to sound as disingenuous as it did. Really.

Oh. I made chibi Rin mad.

With a magnificent display of self-control on her part, she was able to keep her smile. Unfortunately, the violent wriggling of the rest of her face was out for the world to see. "Why, yes, Emiya-kun, you could. I don't mind if you don't care for your own acadimi–"

She coughed.

"–academic success, but would be nice if you didn't show it so openly, for the sake of the other students."

…Did she just fumble a big word? You're adorable, chibi Rin.

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"Your posturing is distracting and annoying. Stop it."

I suppressed a grin that threatened to break my mask of indifference. Rin had always been smarter than me, so it was rare that I'd ever been able to one-up her. Now, though… "The subject wasn't that difficult. If you have problems, feel free to ask me for help."

Wow, did she ever look like she wanted to rip off my head. "I'll manage, thanks."

Amazingly, she spun around and walked back to her seat.

I won.

Smugness swelled within me.

I left the school grounds in a hurry, intending on getting home so that I could make myself lunch. I was lucky that classes only went until noon for my grade.

Others my age had plans similar to myself, as many of them had gathered at the front of the school. Most of them were being picked up by their parents or legal guardian.

As I walked home by myself, I wondered how a normal child would handle Kiritsugu's very hands-off parenting. I would think this is the part where I either get kidnapped, get hit by oncoming traffic, or taken under the wing of a bunch of older delinquent kids.

I snorted. Yeah, right.

"What are _you _looking at, weirdo?"

Hm?

I found the source of the voice near the playground further down the street, and quickly deduced that the question wasn't directed at myself.

A group of children, likely of an age similar to my own, were bullying –if it could even be called that– a diminutive girl. I couldn't tell if her stature was a product of her actual height, or merely the fact that she was curled in on herself.

"Well, creepy-eyes?" another child asked. They were all trying to look bigger than they were, which wasn't too high a benchmark to start with.

She didn't say anything. She was either mute, or _really _didn't want to talk.

I saw her purple hair.

"Excuse me," I interrupted them, "can I play with you guys?"

"Eh?" I received a look which I was positive was copied from a tough-guy stereotype on TV. "Who're you?"

"I'm Shirou," I replied simply, pretending I was oblivious to their blatant antagonism. "Are you playing tag?"

Even at their age, they probably knew that coming out and saying that they were playing "bully the smaller kid" was some sort of social faux-pas. They made the smart decision and backed off.

"Whatever, man," one scoffed. "Let's go, guys."

And with that, their strategic retreat was made.

That was easier than I was expecting.

Then again, I was used to dealing with creatures that don't just back away because you ask them to.

I crouched next to Sakura. "Hey. You okay?"

Her eyes rolled up to meet my own, and I had to bite my lip to resist a gasp of surprise. In all the years that I –or Emiya Shirou, rather– knew this girl, not once did she ever look so… dead. That said a lot because I've seen some terrible things happen to her.

I never realised how much more _human _she seemed after we met.

_Seeing someone we love so much destroy themselves like that… it hurt us more than we could ever bear._

I began to wonder how big a part of Sakura was dependent on me.

"I need to go home," she said suddenly, "Grandfather doesn't like it when I'm late."

I froze, watching her walk away like nothing happened. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I grabbed her arm.

She looked at me questioningly.

"Come with me. I'm making lunch."

"No."

Just like that, I pretended she didn't speak at all. With no resistance on her part whatsoever, I dragged her with me back to the house.

I knew this was basically kidnapping, but whatever. The fact that she didn't resist me meant that she'd learned that any resistance would be met with punishment. If I could take her from the Matou household for any amount of time, I would.

"Grandfather will be angry."

I stopped walking, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"I'll protect you."

I said that to her, but to my ears, it sounded more like I said it to myself.

…

She wasn't very talkative. That's alright, it'll come with time.

Hopefully, not _too _much time.

X

As we entered the house, I could hear my father on the phone in another room.

"Are you sure?... Yeah, I can… I can be in Zurich by tomorrow evening… Yes, bring them… Thank you."

When I was sure he was off the phone, I called out, "I'm home!"

I heard his footsteps grow louder. "Welcome back, Shirou. I didn't know what to do for lunch, so I–"

He looked like he swallowed a lemon when he saw Sakura.

"Who's… this, Shirou?" he asked me in the voice of a man trying to keep his composure.

I stared at her pointedly. She got the message.

"Matou Sakura," she introduced herself with nearly tangible discomfort.

"I see…"

He wanted to say something, I could tell. "Is she your classmate, Shirou?"

"No, I met her on the way home. We're friends now."

I guess being a kid wasn't all that bad. I could get used to this conveniently one-dimensional reasoning.

Kiritsugu tried his damndest to get rid of the young magus heir. "Maybe her parents are worried about where she is, Shirou. You should let her go home; you can play together some other time."

Sakura seemed to like that idea. Sorry, Sakura. No such luck.

"Hm? I promised that I'd make her lunch, though."

With the dinner I made us yesterday, I made sure to let Kiritsugu know that my culinary skills were the one thing I prided myself in. Being new to his parental role, the man was unwilling to take that from me.

"Alright, but make sure she gets home safely after."

I nodded in acceptance to those terms.

I wouldn't, though.

I gestured for Sakura to follow me into the kitchen, idly taking note of what Kiritsugu had in stock.

"You wanna give me a hand?" I asked in what I hoped didn't come across as a demanding voice.

Her body language seemed apprehensive, but she moved towards me just a tad. While she remained reticent for the most part, I could assume her willingness to help me prepare lunch stemmed from some happy memory I wasn't aware of.

I'd take advantage of that.

"Do you know how to cut carrots?" I asked.

As I thought, she shook her head. If she didn't know how to cook in middle school, then she definitely didn't know how to cook as an infant.

"Shirou, be careful with the knives," warned Kiritsugu from his seat at our newly purchased table. I'd tell him not to worry, but what responsible adult left children around the kitchen knives unsupervised in the first place?

It worked to my advantage, I guess.

I stool behind Sakura, holding her hands steady around the blade. I felt her body freeze when I first grabbed her, but she quickly loosened up.

"You hold it like this…"

Before the end of the hour, we'd managed to prepare a simple fried rice dish for three. I could've done it faster myself, but this was more about getting Sakura involved.

I instructed the girl to go take a seat at the table along with my father while I brought the plates. Soon, we were all digging into the meal.

I took my first bite. It was good, but that was to be expected.

Sakura took hers, and I could've sworn I saw a spark of something that could be emotion.

"Thanks for your help, Sakura. You did a good job."

And I meant it, too.

Her cheeks twitched, almost as if she didn't know what expression she was supposed to make. I could only assume it was happiness.

"I'm sorry to bring this up now, but…" trailed off my father. I _did _find it a little strange that he had yet to touch his food. "…Something came up, and I'll need to go on a business trip. I'm leaving right after lunch."

Oh.

Visions of a white-haired girl came to me; someone who I'd never been able to protect.

This was probably just the first trip of many, for the man. I couldn't say I blamed him, though. What father wouldn't want to be reunited with his child?

At least he looked apologetic about it.

"That's fine. I can look after myself for a bit."

A weight seemed to lift itself from his shoulders. "I'm glad, Shirou. I have no business leaving a kid to fend for himself, but this is important and you _do _seem mature for your age. I should be back before the week is up."

X

I saw Kiritsugu to the door after our meal. His coat was on, and his briefcase in hand.

"Be good, Shirou. And don't forget to bring Sakura home!"

Geez. He liked to stress that one, for some reason.

"I will, dad."

He shuffled awkwardly, not knowing what to do. He settled on giving me an awkward pat on the head.

"I'll be back soon."

The door clicked shut behind him.

"Excuse me…" spoke Sakura in a timid voice behind me. "Will you be bringing me home now?"

Those were the most words I've heard her speak all day.

I gave her a comforting smile. "Not a chance."

"B-but…" she scrambled. "Mr. Kiritsugu said…"

I grabbed her shoulders firmly, feeling her tremble under my fingertips. I grimaced, knowing how fearful she was of being absent any longer than she has been.

"I said I'd protect you, didn't I?"

She didn't try to deny what I was saying, nor did she ask why I seemed to think she needed "saving". In a sudden surfacing of her turmoil, she pulled away and yelled, "No! You can't! You can't…"

"I can. I will."

When I really thought about it, there were few people that I cherished. Decidedly, it would be much easier for me to save those few than everyone on earth.

At least, I hoped so.

"You'll be staying with us from now on."

I've really pushed for a criminal record today, huh? Not only did I kidnap a young girl, but now I'm holding her in my home against her will.

Originally, my plan was to bring her over and figure out how to convince Kiritsugu to let her stay with us after the fact. Now that the old man had so conveniently left the house to me, I had a few days to come up with a good excuse.

"That's no good," she protested weakly.

I tried to get a good look at her, all the while thinking of those I had to put before all others.

Sakura, Rin, Illyasviel– hell, even Saber. Them and many other faces whose names wore from my memory in time.

I would save them, if no one else. Maybe that will be enough for me to find "my happiness".


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N) Yikes, how's it already February? School has been attacking me with a vengeance recently, so I guess my free time disappeared faster than I could find it. I shamelessly redirect all the blame for my lack of updates towards my program.

On the matter of updates, my planned order was JNRER, END, Jaune d'Arc, _then _this. However, I have been unable to move away from this story due to how much feedback it's gotten.

Seriously. Thank you. I've admittedly put out very little of the story so far, so I hope it can meet whatever expectations its readers have.

X

I held my hand against Sakura's cheek intently, her body sandwiched between a futon and blanket. She was warm to the touch, but not overly so. I could hear slow but steady breaths escape her lips.

The tenseness in my shoulders eased a little. She was perfectly fine. Zouken either wasn't able to do anything to her remotely or simply didn't care enough to do so.

I cursed my lack of knowledge of my charge's circumstance, but this was the only thing I could do for her. I'd keep her away, guarded and hope that I could find a solution –if only a temporary one– to the situation with the Matou family.

I knew it would be another hour or so before she'd wake up, so I left the room I set up for her and made my way to the kitchen. I'd do my best to make a hearty breakfast.

Sakura was still a growing girl, after all.

Frying the eggs, I found that I couldn't keep more than half a mind on the task. I was too busy thinking of other loose ends that I should've settled _before _I took Sakura away.

Honestly, I thought I outgrew acting before thinking, but I guess I was wrong.

The immediate concern was figuring out what I'd do with the girl while I was at school. She couldn't come with me –Sakura didn't start for another year– and I couldn't skip classes. Whatever trust Kiritsugu had that I could look after myself would be broken, and what I could go off and do on my own would be greatly restricted as a result.

The difficulty was that I didn't know anyone I could trust, mostly because It hadn't been more than two weeks since I got out of the hospital. Kiritsugu was in Switzerland, and he was quite literally the only adult I've had any sort of real conversation with so far.

Before I knew it, I'd already finished cooking. I slid the eggs over two bowls of rice and brought out a side of fresh kimchi. I only had it fermenting for a few days, but it should be fine as-is.

I heard the soft pattering of feet from the other side of the wall. Sakura must have woken up.

I was proven right as a mop of purple hair poked through the entrance.

"Good morning, Sakura," I said first, hoping to appear friendly to the skittish child.

"…Good morning," she replied simply.

That would do, for now.

I suspected that she could smell the food since her eyes were locked on the two bowls I had set on the kitchen counter. Though she didn't express herself much, I was happy that her body language belied her satisfaction with my culinary skills.

We ate in silence, though it wasn't uncomfortable by any means. It felt more like we were busy enjoying the meal.

The doorbell rang.

My shoulders tensed.

Could it be Zouken? No, he wouldn't be so callous, especially knowing that this was Kiritsugu's property. My adoptive father's reputation was known _very _well amongst magi.

Signaling for Sakura to stay where she was, I made my way to the door cautiously. I cursed my decision to postpone awakening my circuits, knowing that the physical backlash I'd receive if I did it now would be more than an inconvenience. Ignoring that, it would take time; something I didn't currently have.

I opened the door with a disarming, childish smile.

"Hello?"

I was met by an imposing older man and a schoolgirl a few years older than myself.

"You're little Shirou, I presume," spoke the man. "My name is Fujimura Raiga, and this is my granddaughter, Taiga. I'm a friend of Kiritsugu's. Your father asked me to check in on you while he was away."

"Oh?" was all I could say.

Did Kiritsugu really ask Mr. Fujimura –someone I didn't _technically_ know– to look after me without even telling me before he left? That was either irresponsible, or this was a scheme targeting the Magus Killer's unsuspecting son.

I sighed, knowing that it was the former. My memory of them wasn't the clearest, but I knew the two in front of me enough to know that they were likely telling the truth.

"Did Kiritsugu not tell you?" asked Raiga, sounding exasperated but not surprised. "He's a little too scatterbrained for his own good– a little strange, considering that he's a professional type of individual."

Admittedly, the grail's curse was likely at fault. It was draining the life out of him, slowly eroding his mental faculties. The symptoms weren't obvious at the beginning, simple things like forgetting dates, misplacing his things and the like. It wasn't anything uncommon for a normal person, but Kiritsugu was anything but. Near the end of his life, it would degrade to the point that it would be difficult for him to keep a conversation without tiring himself out.

I wondered if that "tiredness" was why he told me of his dream at all. Would he have encouraged me to lead the same path as him otherwise, after being crushed by it the way he had? After trying to shelter me from his world –the moonlit world– since the day he saved my life?

I never thought much of the man's mental health before, if I were honest with myself. If memory serves, his body would eventually do him in long before his mind, but I couldn't really call that a positive point.

"No," I answered Raiga eventually, almost getting off track, "but he was in a rush, so…"

"Here." The man took out what looked like a pretty bulky cellphone. It was antique by my own standards, but in the context of the current time period, it was already something that he had one at all. "I'll give the guy a call so we can sort things out."

I nodded as he dialed Kiritsugu's number.

_"Raiga."_

"You didn't tell the kid?"

_"…Sorry. Put him on."_

The man handed the phone to me.

"Kiritsugu?"

_"I'm sorry, Shirou. I asked Raiga to look after you just as I arrived at the airport, and it didn't occur to me to let you know. He's a good friend of mine, so you can trust him."_

"Alright. See you when you get back."

We said our goodbyes –as quick as they were– and I hung up. I gave the older man his cellphone back with a nod.

"Please, come in."

I stepped away from the door, allowing them passage. While Raiga was content to walk in like a regular human being, his granddaughter nearly jumped in my face with her hand stretched out.

"Hiya! Nice to meetcha, Shirou!"

How… sudden.

Then again, this was how Fujimura Taiga acted for as long as I've known her… I think. I shouldn't worry about it too much.

"Mm," was my non-verbal response as I met her handshake. It was nice to have someone who didn't treat me like a kid, but that may have said more about her than it did me.

"Oh, and who might this be?" said Raiga to my back.

I turned, seeing Sakura peering her head through the dining room doorway. She must have been curious to know who was at the door.

I looked again to Raiga, his face telling me that he didn't expect to find another child in the home.

…I could work with this, couldn't I?

"It's Sakura," I answered simply. No point saying anything that wasn't true, lest it comes back to bite me. "I don't know what to do… I can't leave her home alone while I'm at school, but…"

I think I did a good job of presenting myself as some sort of older brother figure. I was raised as an only child, so I was pretty much winging it.

"Darn. Kiritsugu didn't mention he brought home two of you," the man muttered to himself. It was fine to let him think that. "I thought I only had to drop by every once in a blue moon…"

"Don't you worry, Shirou!" Taiga nearly shouted. She wrapped her arm around the shoulders of a startled Sakura. "We can take care of her!"

That worked pretty well, if I could say so myself.

"_You _have to go to school, girlie," corrected Raiga gruffly. He didn't like his granddaughter committing in his name, apparently. "Although, I suppose she can stay with me during the day."

I bowed at the waist. "Thank you both."

"Don't mention it," replied the old man. The way he said it made me think that if anyone were to mention it, it would be _him _roughly ten years from now if he felt like he needed a favour.

"Leave it to us!" cheered Taiga.

"To me," the man corrected.

"Leave it to him!"

Raiga checked the time.

"The original plan was to give you a lift to school. Would you care to take us up on the offer?"

And save myself the walk? Sure. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all, boy. I'd be dropping off my granddaughter either way."

I allowed a smile to creep up my face. It was nice that things were going my way, for a change.

X

I couldn't get rid of my irritated scowl. I knew that it was a strange look on a seven-year-old, but I couldn't help it.

When the chauffeur opened the door of the vehicle, I could _feel _the eyes of the Homurahara student body boring into me. Or rather, the series of black foreign cars lined up at the gates.

"Don't mind it, Shirou," spoke Taiga as she got out after me. "They're just not used to seeing German cars around here."

I don't think that's what it was. I _really _don't think that's what it was.

I faced Sakura, who was still buckled in the back seat. "I'll see you later. Mr. Fujimura will take good care of you while I'm gone."

I didn't get any words out of her, but she did give me a nod.

Once the troupe took off, Taiga took the time to walk me to the elementary division. I thought that was nice of her.

"I'll come find you once you're done your classes, aright? I'll be on my lunch break, so I can bring you to the cars. They'll be waiting."

"Thank you, Fujimura-senpai."

A mischievous smile crept up to her eyes. I didn't like the twinkle I found in them.

She pounced on me, though it was a bit more literal this time. She was hugging me, I think, but she was squeezing the life out of me. I imagined this was what Illya would do with a cute stuffed animal.

"D'aww… you can call me Fuji-nee! I've always wanted a little brother!"

She let go and I nearly fell to my knees, gasping for air. She ran off without missing a beat. "See ya!"

…What a personality, that one. I could see why I remembered her fondly, though.

X

Once again, I subjected myself to the voice of a man rambling on about some elementary concept or another. Once again, I had to remind myself that _I _was the outlier here, and not the children learning this stuff for the first time.

It was horrible.

And so, I stared at Rin to pass the time.

…That sounded terrible, even to me.

Ahem. Moving on.

She didn't take notice, but that was more of her paying attention to the lesson that it was me trying to be discrete. It was kind of strange seeing her level of diligence in someone her age, but knowing her personally had long since proven that it was nothing to be surprised about. She'd take note of points of interest, marked what she'd rewrite later, and even used three different highlighters to help color-code things.

It was like watching a young adult, rather than a kid.

Eventually, though, some of that youthful inexperience _did _shine through. No one –unless they knew her cues as well as I did– would notice, but she hesitated for an instant. She wrote _more _but highlighted much less about a certain piece of information the teacher gave. There was something she didn't understand.

Of course, I knew _exactly _what she was stuck on because there was only one thing that it could be. It was likely an accident, but the teacher made reference to material that was many levels above what a primary student could ever hope to touch. It was an off-handed remark, something that wasn't really important and would've flown over the heads of the kids here anyway.

Not Rin, though.

It was a testament to her intelligence that she caught it at all, but naturally she didn't _understand _it. She couldn't, and certainly not without any sort of foundational knowledge.

The tapping of her feet told me it bothered her, but not enough for her to get hung up on it. She was able to move on and follow the lesson.

Good for you, Rin.

The lesson ran its course, and we eventually reached our first break. I let out a yawn I was holding in and stretched my arms behind my back.

While the others in the class went did whatever it was kids are supposed to do when they have free time, I figured my time would be best spent trying to figure out an excuse I could use to convince Kiritsugu that I had a good reason for outright lying to his face, then disobeying him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I might've batted a little too soon, but that didn't mean my decision was a bad one. I _did _take Sakura away, and until Zouken does something to prove me wrong, that's had more benefits than consequences.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Maybe I could come clean about everything and hope the man believes me? Tell him I essentially traveled through time, and that keeping a small girl away from her dangerous magus grandfather would help prevent the manifestation of a dark monstrosity? Admittedly, that would rely on my odds of getting through to him. I wasn't even taking into account the fact that he'd likely want to solve everything his way, screwing up all my plans… not that I knew what those were.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Maybe I could pretend she was never at our house to begin with, and find a way to bribe Fujimura Raiga into letting her stay with him? Again, there were many "ifs" involved, namely whether I could bribe the guy at all.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

…What the hell's making that noise?

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Looking around the classroom, my eyes found my desk-neighbour tapping her pencil against her notebook. She was staring at her page like it had aggrieved her.

I sighed, knowing what I must do to get her to stop. My chair slid back, making noise as I got up. It was enough to alert her of my approach before I stood next to her.

"Do you need help with anything, Tohsaka?"

She scoffed as if _baffled _that I would even suggest such a thing. "Not at all, but thanks for worrying, Emiya-kun."

"' Course not," I agreed easily. "Could you stop that noise you're making then?"

It was only as I said it that the noise stopped. She likely wasn't aware of it.

Trying to cover her embarrassment, she tried to make the issue about me. "I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to _break your concentration_."

Strange. She didn't sound very sorry. Nonetheless, the pissier this girl's mood, the likelier it would be that I'd have a bad day. This was a rule I'd learned with time. As such, I decided to be more direct.

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying that I _really could _help explain things to you, if you want."

Uh oh. I was making it worse. The eyebrows were back at it. "Thank you again for your consideration, but I doubt there's anything _you_ can do to help."

I didn't know if her refusal stemmed from the fact that she actually _knew_ she was stuck on something far above our level, or simply that she didn't like me.

It could be both, really.

"You're trying to figure out what the teacher was saying about imaginary numbers, right? I don't even know if they teach that in high school."

My attempt to get through to her despite her incessant griping seemed to do _something_, since she didn't tell me to bug off again. Instead, her eyes narrow accusingly. "And how do _you _know that?"

I shrugged. I didn't have an explanation, and I couldn't be bothered to make one up. Even if she wanted one, I doubted _very much _that she could be more bullheaded than me on the matter.

One could hope.

"I don't know, why are you worrying over this in the first place? It's not like we're actually supposed to know it or anything." Though I asked the question, I already knew the answer. Rin didn't like _not understanding _things, whether it be something she was supposed to know or not.

Thankfully, she took my noncommittal response well enough, and by that, I meant she huffed and ignored me again.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I was getting annoyed, now. Part of me knew that getting worked up over the behaviour of a child was nothing but a waste of energy, but I shelved that thought. I grabbed the pencil out of her hand and dragged her notebook towards me.

"Hey!"

I ignored her. "It's not actually a number. It's more of a placeholder," I explained as I wrote down a quick formula. "It doesn't have a value, but it's used under the assumption that it's squared value is negative one."

I was no mathematician, but that was my understanding. My explanation might've been a little crude, but if there was a seven-year-old on this earth that could get it with just this much, it was Rin.

She didn't say anything at first. Though after a bit of fidgeting on her part, she eventually managed to swallow her pride. "So it works like this?"

She took the pencil back and wrote an equation based on the formula I gave her.

"Exactly," I answered. I should've been surprised that she got the hang of it so quickly, or even that she knew how exponents worked while everyone else was still trying to get a hang of addition and subtraction. I wasn't, though.

"…I understand."

That was all she said. No "Thank you, Shirou", no "You're the best, Shirou". What a pain, this one.

The teacher called us to take our seats. Done with math, it was time for languages.

So much for free time.

Sigh.

X

Noon came quickly and so did Taiga.

"Shirouuuu! Over here!"

My bag was still in my hands, the energetic girl having arrived before I finished packing it. How did she get to the elementary school so quickly? And how did she know what classroom I was in?

"…Coming, Fuji-nee."

Her smile threatened to split her face just as her arms threatened to trap me in a bear hug in the next few seconds. She liked the sound of that, I gathered.

I said my goodbyes to my teacher and classmates politely, feeling a little uncomfortable being picked up by someone. I couldn't say it was something I was used to.

The other kids were talking amongst themselves.

"Is that Shirou's sister?"

"I dunno. I think so."

"She's pretty!"

The last one had the highschooler blushing. "Aw, shucks," she laughed to herself in a very Taiga-ish way.

"Let's go," I urged, dragging her away by the sleeve. Any more compliments and I feared we'd be stuck here for a while.

Before leaving, I noticed Rin staring at me strangely. I didn't pay it much mind.

X

When Sakura was returned to me, I knew neither the expression I was making, nor the expression I was _supposed _to make.

I looked at the girl, her face as blank as mine. I turned my head up to the Yakuza boss standing behind her, matching his austere gaze.

I looked back to Sakura.

"Mr. Fujimura?"

"Yes, boy?"

"Where did she get the pink, frilly dress?"

"The store."

"...Who braided her hair?"

"Kiba did," he answered, pointing to the imposing battle-scarred gangster to his right.

"That's a pretty big lollipop she's got there."

"We got goodies on the way."

"…"

"…"

I should have expected this. How Taiga turned out was a prime example of why I should have expected this.

"Thank you for looking after her," I bowed, pretending I didn't see the tiara hidden behind one of the gang members' back. Spoiling her was leagues better than abusing her.

"No problem kid. We'd be more than happy to take her in until Kiritsugu gets back."

Evidently.

We'd arrived at the end of our street in good time, the cars dropping us off a little ways away from the house to avoid any associations by the passerby.

I took Sakura by the hand, waving goodbye to Raiga's group as they took off.

"Did you have a good day?" I asked, easily falling into the role of the inquisitive guardian.

She nodded. I was surprised to see a small smile on her face. It almost masked the fear I knew she felt deep within.

"This is for you," she spoke softly, handing a small bag of hard candy. It would seem that Raiga thought of me too when they stopped for 'goodies'. How nice of him.

"What a kind girl."

I froze. It wasn't me who said that.

I pulled the purple-haired child close to my chest protectively. I could feel her hyperventilating.

The street was quiet and empty. It was by no means a major road, but it was never this deserted. This wasn't natural.

There was a bounded field surrounding us.

"No… I'm sorry…"

Sakura's whimper was barely audible, but the despair in her tone couldn't be any clearer. My fears were validated, now knowing exactly who it was I was dealing with.

My young but fully functional magic circuits hummed with power, ready to be used at a moment's notice. This morning's scare pushed me to awaken them sooner than later, sooner being the moment I was able to.

An old man _materialized _in front of us, nothing outstanding about his appearance other than how old he appeared to be.

I knew better.

"Hello, child," the abomination spoke. "My name is Matou Zouken. It would seem that you've been looking after my granddaughter for me."

"Good evening, Mr. Matou," I replied innocently. I hoped to defuse any sort of altercation before it could occur.

Unfortunately, I don't think he missed the way I stepped forward to shied Sakura with my body.

He laughed. "Kukuku. No need to be afraid, boy. I'm just here as a worried grandfather."

Bullshit.

The figurative hammer in my mind was cocked. Worst case scenario, I knew what had to be done.

The friendly smile on the creature's lips grew until it was decidedly inhuman. "I wouldn't try that, little magus."

The hand that held a not-yet-existent weapon slackened. He knew. _Of course, _he knew. I was a fool to have ever thought otherwise.

"I won't give her to you," I stated firmly. There was no point beating around the bush anymore.

"I wasn't about to ask that you do. How quick you are to jump to conclusions."

His answer confused me, though his evident amusement said all that needed to be said. I couldn't let my guard down.

"I won't have to, after all," he continued. "She may stay with you for as long as she wishes, but something tells me it won't be as long as you think."

I gritted my teeth.

The air around shifted noticeably. The bounded field had been dispersed.

"That's all from me. Have a good night, children, and don't stay out too late."

I watched dumbly as he turned and walked away. The only sound breaking the silence was the dull scraping of his walking cane hitting the pavement.

Zouken didn't come to take her. This was just a warning; a threat. His message was clear. He didn't think he'd need to lift a finger to get what he wanted.

Once I knew we were truly alone, I grabbed the young Matou heir by the hand. She was as stiff as a board.

Damnit.

_Damnit._

She trailed along as I brought us back to the Emiya household. The bedazzled outfit and over-the-top set of accessories did nothing to hide her despondency.

The fact that we got through this confrontation without issue didn't ease my frustration over the matter– no. I was frustrated _because _of everything that went wrong over the course of a few moments. Zouken snuck up on me, threatened me, forced me into inaction and ruined whatever small sense of security I'd been able to give the poor girl I was trying to help.

Though the idea sounded nice at first, it was clear to me now that plotting intricate schemes to gain the upper hand wasn't my strong suit.

Emiya Shirou will never be anything more than a sword, after all. My best bet was to sharpen my blade and prepare to do what I do best.


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N) Altogether not an unreasonable update time. Good job me.

On a side note, the last chapter got a raging flame that genuinely made me laugh out loud. I mean, I'd be bummed, but it was just so _extra _that I couldn't help but feel it was a troll. I'd leave it up, but I don't want anything that isn't constructive or reasoned to be held against me. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, it made my day.

A quick note concerning the previous chapter, I don't want to make it seem as if Shirou/Archer was unwilling to deal with Zouken because he's weak. Shirou knows that Zouken is a little more complicated to deal with than simply running him through with a sword, and didn't want to engage without a plan... which he didn't have, unfortunately.

After many years as a counter guardian, Archer has developed a sharp brain that has undoubtedly served him well. However, he is not infallible, and has definitely had lapses in judgment. He's stuck in a timeline that he is not altogether familiar with and his memories of his time as Shirou Emiya aren't the strongest.

As far as strength goes, he doesn't have any of the physical advantages he had at one time as both a Counter Guardian and a heroic spirit. His body and magical circuits are that of a young boy, though his magecraft alone is technically just as strong as ever.

Please enjoy!

X

I wouldn't say that I was tired, because it would take _a lot _for me to get to that point. It was more of a growing irritation. I stared at the classroom clock practically counting the seconds until I could leave.

I had unfortunately learned that taking care of a child was not easy. I couldn't leave Sakura unsupervised during the evening, so after we made dinner I had to keep her company until she went to bed.

Naturally, that left me no time to work on my magecraft. My only option was to _make _time, so that meant cutting down on less essential activities.

Namely, sleep.

I never really slept in much to begin with, and it was something that I've learned to live without. Before my time as a Counter Guardian, I would tread battlefields _days _at a time before I could get any rest. I didn't think it would have been the case for most others, but it wasn't a struggle for me to adapt.

My brow twitched, however, as I finally accepted that I would simply have to adapt once again.

Five more minutes…

"I have everyone's homework graded," announced the teacher. "Are there any volunteers to hand them out?"

As was expected, there grumbles from some and raised hands from others. Nothing out of the ordinary.

A student stopped by my desk and dropped off my copy. I reached to put it in my bag–

Rin nudged my desk with a painfully fake smile plastered to her face.

Sigh. Really, Rin? I just want to go home…

"So, Emiya-kun. How did you do?"

My eye caught the homework she held to her side, which she tilted conspicuously in an attempt to stop me from seeing the perfect score I already knew she got. Did she want to compare answers? I couldn't see why if she got all of them right.

I chose the path of least resistance and slid my paper her way. "Here."

She took one look at the bright red _100 _in the top corner and immediately lost her smile.

"Tch."

Tch?

The happy-face was back. "Thanks for sharing, Emiya-kun!" she chirped, though her actions betrayed her words as she turned around and slumped right back down into her chair.

Her paper was thrown haphazardly –uncaringly, even– onto her desk. She was angry about _something, _but what? That she wasn't able to gloat about her perfect marks since I tied her?

She'd have to wait for a few more years for that one. There's no way in hell that I was going to flunk a grade school assignment.

My twitching eyebrow found the company of my scowling lips. I _really _hoped that this didn't light a competitive fire in her. I wasn't too sure that I could handle it.

X

Once again, the Fujimura group picked me up with Sakura and drove us home. I glanced her way, seeing that she had _another _new dress today and that her hair was pulled into pigtails. It was with great amusement that I realized her wardrobe at my house would soon eclipse my own in size at its current rate of growth.

To my surprise, it was she who broke the silence first. "How… was your day?"

I felt my eyes widen before relaxing into a friendly grin. The run-in with the Worm had shaken her, but it would seem that she had the time to gather herself. I liked to think that she was warming up to me, too.

"It was good, thanks for asking. Did you have fun with Fujimura-san today?"

She nodded shyly. "Yes. Kiba-san brought me to the park. I enjoyed it."

Good. This was very good. With any luck, most of the damage the Matou family did to her could be undone.

I frowned. It was unfortunate that _most _would never be _all_.

Our driver pulled to the side of the street. We got here pretty quickly, didn't we?

I got out of the car first, making my way around to the other side to help the shorter girl get down from the ridiculously high-off-the-ground Mercedes-Benz.

Despite myself, my expression eased further when she reached to grab my hand.

X

"Shirou."

My heart slowed as my brain registered who was on the other side of the door.

Kiritsugu stood at the front entrance, arms crossed. He sported a frown of which I couldn't recall ever being on the receiving end.

"You didn't take her home, did you?"

The phrasing was for my own benefit. It wasn't really a question, considering the girl in question was right next to me with downcast eyes.

I didn't answer, but that didn't deter him. He continued, "Considering how you've set up the guest bedroom, I take it she's been _staying with us_?"

I could hear the sarcasm loud and clear, though I didn't think it was meant to be humorous.

I chanced a look at my relatively younger charge. I knew that the old man said he'd be back before the week was up, but I didn't expect him back so soon. I could only hope that she didn't take his displeasure the wrong way.

"I'm gonna talk to my dad for a sec," I told her. "Do you mind waiting in the other room for a moment?"

To her credit, she only hesitated for an instant. With a nod, she was off and I was left alone with my adoptive father.

I didn't waste any time. I tried to get straight to the point while divulging as little detail as possible. "I couldn't do it. Her family is hurting her."

To _his _credit, he actually grimaced a little. "I figured it was something like that. That doesn't mean you can just take a child away from their family, Shirou. That isn't the right thing to do."

Who was he trying to convince with _that _load of horseshit? We both knew that the only reason he gave two hoots was because _this_ particular family belonged to a magus lineage that he didn't want looking his way.

I took a deep breath, knowing that I had to calm down. Strange… I wasn't one to get worked up like this usually.

"I couldn't just stand back and do nothing."

Heh. It wasn't lost on me that I took the words right out of a certain red-haired idiot's mouth. Though the intent behind the words wasn't the same, the parallels were there. As they say, the more things change…

Disconcerting, admittedly, but a problem for another time.

My old man's face slackened. "It's something a child your age wouldn't understand yet."

Despite myself, rage began to bubble under my skin. I wasn't about to let him pull that one on me.

"Oh? Then please tell me what I _should _have done."

Judging by the widening of his eyes, he didn't expect a sarcastic tone from a kid who looked like he was still on training wheels. A pity it may have been that I couldn't keep my less than stellar traits from showing themselves, I wasn't so concerned about that for now.

His expression steadied, but I knew the man well enough to see that he was wrestling with something in his mind. No idea what that would be, however.

In a sudden movement, he grabbed me firmly by the shoulders and did his best to look me in the eyes. It threw me off-guard; Kiritsugu was not a man who cared much for physical contact. "I told you that I was a magus, didn't I?"

I nodded, not knowing where he wanted to take this.

He was always tired, but now… exhaustion seemed to consume him entirely. "Despite that, I… It's not a world I wanted to introduce to you for a long while– no, maybe not at all. It's a cruel, unforgiving way of life that will bring nothing but pain and misery.

"That girl… Sakura. She part of that 'moonlit' world, and her family is just as cruel and unforgiving as the next. _More so_, even. It was my intention to keep you away from her so that she couldn't drag you the dangers that surround her."

I could understand where he was coming from. Like with most things, Kiritsugu was quick to label her as a lost cause and figured that it would be easier to keep me safe if he left the Matou to their own devices.

To him, that's what was required to be an ally of justice. Despite her plights, leaving Sakura to her fate would simply mean there would be one less magus breathing the same air as the rest of us. In return, he could make sure that I would be safe from their schemes.

If lives were weighed on a balance, the death of a magus would potentially save countless lives from whatever atrocities they would pursue in life. As a child of a traditional magus household herself, Sakura's life held less value than that of another child.

I disagreed.

"I told her that I would save her, so I will."

Kiritsugu looked as if he wanted nothing more than to tell me that I was being naïve, but he wouldn't. Though his way of thinking was faulty, it was nothing more than the corruption of a much more beautiful ideal.

A world where one _could _save everyone.

"You can't save everyone."

"I know," I agreed easily. There was something to be relished in seeing the man who cursed me make such a funny face. "But I'll save _her_. Not everyone."

The more I said it, the more feasible it seemed. Comparatively, at least.

I liked to think he realized right then that I would never follow in his footsteps. The dream of being a hero of justice would die with him.

He smiled.

"Even so, you're still a growing boy. There's little you can do for her by yourself."

Growing? Technically. Nothing I can do? I wouldn't say that.

He stopped me before I could contradict him. "She can stay with us for the time being. In exchange…"

His smile fell. The straight, dead look of the Magus Killer replaced it. "I'll need some assurance that you'll be able to keep yourself alive."

He shifted right back to the easy-going man I knew in my youth. Before I could get a proper explanation out of him, he walked away in order to tell Sakura that her stay was welcomed.

X

Sakura calmed down once she was told that she wouldn't be sent back to her grandfather. Now that everything was settled –at least for the most part– I took my time making a meal that was a little more elaborate than normal.

The atmosphere was nice. I encouraged Sakura to join the conversation, something that the old man was surprisingly good about helping me with. We all ate our share, and Sakura went to bed soon after. Unlike me, most kids her age needed plenty of sleep.

Her early bedtime worked in Kiritsugu's favour, apparently. The moment he was sure that she was slumbering, he beckoned me to follow him into the shed.

I stood by, not knowing what I was supposed to say. Was he going to explain what he meant earlier, or not?

"Originally I was thinking about teaching you magecraft, though after thinking it through a little, I came to the conclusion that such wouldn't go far in ways of making sure you don't die– it would take too much time."

…He lost me. I thought that maybe he was considering running me through the basics –like reinforcement and structural analysis– but he just said it wasn't the case. If not magecraft, then how did he expect me to keep myself out of trouble with other magi?

Of course, it wouldn't be a problem for me either way. Not that he knew that.

He picked up one of the cases that were stacked against the back wall. It was pitch black and made of some sort of high-end polypropylene, but otherwise unassuming.

It opened with a soft click. Despite what I knew about the man, I was still caught off guard for whatever reason.

"Do you know what this is, Shirou?" he asked me, a black metal object in hand.

"It's a handgun," was all I could say. For all my knowledge of swords, I knew next to nothing about firearms. I'd been faced with them countless times, sure, and I knew what differences to expect when faced with a shotgun or a rifle, but beyond that? I'd have better luck giving a lecture at the clocktower.

Hah.

" The Beretta 92F," he corrected me. "That's what this gun is called."

Wow. I kinda… really didn't care. Why should I? If this is about fighting magi, then–

"I used this myself, back in the day. My teacher had me put it together and take it apart whenever I had a moment to spare."

My train of thought came to a standstill. Was he really talking about his professional life right now? I could've sworn I never found out about that until many years after his death. And he had a teacher? It made sense, more so that being an assassin right out of the womb.

He didn't stop for my sake. "I am… very good at dealing with magi, despite not being the best magus myself. In fact, I've earned myself a reputation that I had hoped to keep from you. The Mage's Association calls me the Magus Killer."

I kept my mouth shut. None of this was new to me, and I didn't want to react strangely.

"I'm sure you're surprised," he said, noticing my subdued responses, "but I promise you that I'm not telling you this to frighten you. I doubt this would have ever come up were it not for what you said earlier today: that you would protect Sakura, no matter what. I had a feeling that you wouldn't let that go."

The smile –the same one as earlier– crept back up his face. "I'm relieved, in a way."

"Relieved?" I had to ask.

"I had a dream as a kid… one that I could never let go of. I wanted to make a world where everyone could be saved."

He mistook my frown for something else and laughed. "It's silly, I know, but to this day I still don't think it's a bad ideal to strive towards."

He's more stubborn than I am, then. And that's saying something.

"It ruined me, though."

I blinked. How… blunt.

"I had a beautiful wife and child. I loved them with all my heart. I tore myself apart, forced to chose between those dearest to me and my unachievable dream. I feel as though I would have been much happier were I willing to sacrifice the world for them and not the other way around."

_Illya smiled at me. Despite the situation, it was as cheerful and happy smile. Be comparison, mine was bitter. Angry. Sad._

_She died and I couldn't do a thing about it._

"I won't call it a mistake– I _can't _call it that. But if you can be happier than me by following your own path, then I will help in whatever way I can."

Would I be happier this way? I suppose I'll find out.

"Now back to this," he gestured to the gun in his hand. "Compared to regular people, magi are monsters given flesh. Untouchable almost. Tell me, from what little you know about them, what do you think their most common shared weakness is?"

That was a loaded question, now wasn't it? A weakness they all had in common? I admit it wasn't something I gave much thought to. My magecraft allowed me to match the method to the solution so I never had to give much thought to the inverse.

"Arrogance?" I offered.

"No," he shook his head but didn't seem annoyed. "You're not wrong, but arrogance alone won't stop a competent magus from keeping his head on his shoulders."

A fair point.

"The answer is far simpler. For all their strengths, nine times out of ten, they will die if you kill them– given you have the means."

I barely caught my jaw before it dropped. Seriously? _That _was the best insight the Magus Killer could offer me?

"Though I suppose arrogance plays into that as well," he mused. "The takeaway point is that if they die from your method, then your method is a _good _one. Whether it's _considered _to be viable or not is completely irrelevant."

He placed the gun in my hand. "There's a little more to it, but the gist is that if you can reliably put a bullet between another magus' ears, then your bullet is better than any of their magecraft."

I began to understand what he was trying to tell me while at the same time I processed that he was going to teach a kid how to kill someone with a firearm. The fact that _I _was the kid wasn't the point.

"Like you said, it could be arrogance, but I think it's more denial than anything. The right gun _can _kill them, but they won't accept it and they won't prepare for it. Rather than waste time trying to teach you how to be a good magus, you'll have better luck keeping Sakura away from her family if I teach you how to deal with them directly."

Actually, I figured I'd have better luck pulling out whichever Noble Phantasm had the best chances of killing whatever it was that I was trying to kill. But going by Kiritsugu's track record, his method seemed to work for him too. I'd humour him, if only because I couldn't really say no.

I nodded.

"Good," he slapped me on the back, something I found to be quite out of character. "Now take the gun apart, then put it back together.

…What?

"How?"

I barely caught his smirk before it left him. "I'd say you have time to figure that out. I'm tired, so I'll head to bed, but you keep at it. This is the first step you'll need to take before I can show you anything else."

Anything else? The hell did he show me _now? _The jackass just monologued for a bit then told me to do a tear-down of a gun!

He waved over his shoulder. "Good night, Shirou. I believe in you."

Thud.

I was left alone in a tiny shed at two in the morning with nothing to keep me company but an old gun.

Sigh.

X

I hate to admit it, but I was… grumpy the following morning. Though sleep wasn't something I needed in great quantity, I would've liked to have had more than two hours of it.

Understanding the gun itself wasn't too much of an issue. Though it wasn't recognized as a war tool by my Unlimited Blade Works, Structural Grasp worked just as well on it as any fan or room heater.

Understanding what went where did _not_, however, give me the skill required to tinker with the damn thing without screwing everything up.

It was laughable how bad I was with guns. And here I thought magecraft was my main deficiency.

It took me the better part of an hour and a half, but I was able to put all the little pieces back where I found them without accidentally knocking anything back out from where I put it.

I hated guns, I decided.

Next to me at the table, Sakura looked at me worriedly. She kept her thoughts to herself, likely too shy to speak her mind.

"I'm fine," I said for her sake. "I just had a little trouble sleeping."

"Oh," was all she said. I didn't doubt that she had the same issues at times.

"You have the day off today, don't you?" asked Kiritsugu from across, who was ignoring irritated redness in my eye. "Do you have any plans?"

"Depends," I answered simply. "Is there anything you _want _me to do?"

I think he got what I was trying to ask. "No, I don't think so– not right now, at least. Why don't you and Sakura enjoy yourselves for today, and we can talk again later."

Message received. I didn't have to look at another gun for at least a few more hours. I didn't understand why he was pushing for me to stay close to the girl, however. Despite our agreement, I didn't think that he appreciated having to shelter a runaway –stolen, more like– magus child.

I wouldn't argue too much, though.

An idea struck me.

"Sakura. Do you want to come to play at a friend's house?"

She looked unsure. No… rather, she looked positively frightened by the very idea of going somewhere enclosed and unknown. Despite her fears though, she still nodded yes. I could only assume that she trusted me enough to think that I wouldn't take her anywhere bad.

"Excellent. Go on, you two." Kiritsugu shooed us away with his cup of tea still near his lips. If he was going to tell us to get lost, the least he could do is put down the tea I brewed for him.

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. I couldn't help but feel as though he was trying to get rid of us for the moment.

X

We walked hand-in-hand as I directed my charge to our destination. Were it not for our starkly different appearances, it wouldn't surprise me if we were confused for siblings by any onlookers.

Her grip tightened in mine once she saw what neighbourhood we were in. She definitely recognized that we were close to a place she likely had no intention of returning to.

Once the Tohsaka manor was in sight, the purple-haired girl's feet began to drag under her. She didn't stop walking altogether, not wanting to give too much away, but her reluctance was palpable.

I hoped that she could move past it, and that the two of them could forgive me for what I was about to do.

Was this a bad idea? Most likely. Was I going to do it anyway? Yes.

What worked to my advantage was that Rin was all about keeping up appearances. Though we didn't get along too well, she wouldn't shut the door in my face if only to not seem rude. That would allow me to introduce them back into each other's lives, though it would be as acquaintances at best, and they would do it to humour me.

It was absolutely forced, but what else was I supposed to do? If I let them drift apart for too long, then things could only go downhill from there.

Sakura's hand was clammy. Was she really that nervous?

I stopped and turned to face her. "Sakura–"

Her face was flushed, her eyes glazed over. I noticed a tremble in her legs, which allowed me to catch the girl before she hit the ground.

"Sakura!"

I wouldn't call her lucid by any means, by she was conscious– if just barely. Her breath was haggard and looked like she was in excruciating pain.

What could this–

_"She may stay with you for as long as she wishes, but something tells me it won't be as long as you think."_

The worm's words resonated in my mind. This was what he meant, wasn't it? It didn't matter what any of our opinions were on the matter if the vile familiars inside of her destroyed her body.

I hadn't thought of it– or considered it at all. I didn't even know that this would be an issue.

I grit my teeth. That bastard wouldn't win _that _easily.

With the sick child held steady in my arms, I wracked my brain for any possible solution. What procedure could alleviate her pain? Who could I take her to that would be able–

I frowned.

I didn't like my solution one bit.


	5. Chapter 5

(A/N) I now present you with a few thousand words of Emiya throwing different shits at the wall until one of them sticks.

I mean, chapter five.

Honestly, I'm expecting polarizing responses for this one. Keep in mind the reactions of other characters are presented exclusively by how Shirou interprets them.

On a side note, I revisited part of the Heaven's Feel VN route before writing this. I completely forgot how much of Shirou's hatred for Zouken in internalized.

Now, to address the issue of Archer's familiarity with guns. Characters such as Emiya alter and Nameless Archer definitely _can and have _used them, but then again, they're entirely unrelated to FSN's Archer.

In the case of Nameless archer, they simply share a face. The "Shirou" that he was before death lived a life completely removed from any version of Shirou that we know. On the other hand, Emiya alter is just...

Urgh.

I'm sorry. Nasuverse lore is bad enough on its own, but I'm _not _Big Brain enough for Extra. It's convoluted as all hell.

I will pretend that it doesn't exist for the sake of my own mental health. That includes both Nameless Archer and whatever the fuck Kiara has to do with Emiya Alter.

Urgh. x2

Unrelated, but is anyone else _super _excited for Bleach's comeback + Burn the Witch? I know I am. I was thinking of posting the Bleach fic that served as a semi-prototype for this story, but I decided against that because I don't hate myself enough to juggle _another _fic.

Of course, if you think otherwise and that I _should, _in fact, put up story number 5, let me know.

I'll consider it.

I'll say one last time that I don't have a beta reader, so if anything is out of place or just seems _wrong_, I'm sorry. I did my best. Let me know and I'll try to fix it if I can.

But yeah, enjoy the chapter, and I apologize for the stupidly long A/N.

X

My nostrils flared.

I hated this place. I hated this place _so much._

I adjusted the awkward grip I had on my charge. I tried my best to not shake Sakura too much on the way over, but my lesser stature didn't make it easy.

Her heartbeat was heavy against my shoulder. Things could get worse at this rate.

Damnit! The worm thought he had it all figured out, did he? I wouldn't let things go his way. He wouldn't think that I'd go to _him _for help, but lo and behold.

Still…

The bastard could do a good job, but it would be patch-work at best. This wasn't his specialty, and he wouldn't be able to deal with the "heart" of the problem.

If I wanted to find someone who could come up with a more permanent workaround, I'd have to–

I shook my head. There would be no point in me getting ahead of myself. Even if by some miracle I found that woman, I didn't have the means to secure her assistance.

Yet.

I braced and kicked the church doors open. Though I could tell myself that I'd be more gentle with them given I had my hands freed, it would be a lie.

"Hm?"

The man I was looking for turned around with a start but otherwise did a good job of acting like my unexpected visit didn't come as a surprise. "How can I help you, boy?"

"Help her," was all I said. Nothing else _needed _to be said.

Kotomine was someone that I've hated since the moment I met him– that much I could say with all certainty. Despite this, I could acknowledge that he was reliable.

Not trustworthy, but definitely reliable.

I could _rely _on him wanting to screw Zouken over just as much as I did, or at least wanting to see me agonize over it if that didn't work.

He took her from me gingerly, laying her on a pew.

"Tell me, young man. What misfortune brings you to me on this day?" he asked with faked concern, idly tilting the girl's head to the side in a mockery of a physical examination. I didn't doubt for a second that he knew why I was here, nor did I think that he didn't know who's "granddaughter" this was.

"Take as many of _that thing's_ familiars out of her as you can," I requested firmly.

"Oh?"

Rather than be offended by the tall order, he looked rather amused. He quickly discarded any pretense of being a regular neighborhood clergyman, or that he didn't know _exactly _what vile affliction ailed Sakura. "Tell me, boy. Assuming I _do _have the means to do so, it won't be an easy task. What would make this worth my while?"

He had every reason to do it, but he wouldn't tell me that. He was messing with me. He wanted to see me _squirm_.

"Help me, and I will promise you that Matou Zouken _will _die."

A hatred swelled within me once the name left my lips. It filled my being in a way that I couldn't remember feeling during my eternal servitude as a Counter Guardian.

It was a vulnerable and insufferably _human _hatred, I came to accept.

Kotomine's face was grim, though his eyes shone with the childlike excitement of someone watching an exhilarating play unravel before their eyes. "Do you, now? How might you accomplish such a feat, if I may ask? I would have erased that blight from this world long ago, were I able to do so."

His doubt was understandable. In his eyes, I was nothing more than a boy who still hadn't hit his growth spurt.

I would enlighten him, then.

I stared at him with an intent cultivated and hardened by an eternity filled with nothing but conflict. A mere child could never sport that look– neither could a grown man, for that matter. A regular human being could never experience my lifetime in theirs.

It was written in the very laws of our world. Mine was the gaze of he who was seen the most, and of he who _would perceive_ the most as well.

Kotomine Kirei's eyes widened as they met mine.

He understood now, then, that I wasn't "just a child." My glare emoted an intent that transcended empty boasts.

…No, that must have only been part of it.

It was as my vision _changed _that I began to understand something of my own at the same time as him. It was sharper, and every movement in my line of sight was evaluated differently than it was before.

…That wasn't quite it. My vision didn't so much change is it did become again what it once was.

It was almost an amendment on the part of the laws that govern us: if the eyes have seen a thousand battles, then it would persist that the man, too, has seen the same.

Were I a servant or a heroic spirit, it would be dubbed the True Eye of the Mind.

As it stood, I was nothing more than a human. My now-silver eyes were simply an anomaly.

The man stared back at me for a while longer, likely coming to his own conclusions. Eventually, he relented. With hands raised far above his head in a sudden burst of theatrics, he spoke, "I see! I cannot claim to know who you are, young man, but neither can I claim to know the extent of your abilities. Rejoice, then, for I will grant your wish in exchange for your pledge."

This would do.

X

I saw the sky darken from the church window as I waited for the bastard to finish dealing with the even _bigger_ bastard's little monstrosities.

I wondered if Kiritsugu was expecting me to be back by now.

"You'd be better served to put her out of her misery, you know," spoke a disembodied voice.

I didn't look away from the glass. I already knew who I was speaking to, after all.

"Why do you say that?" I humoured him.

"It's only a matter of time before 'she' becomes an 'it'. It would be inhumane to let it progress to that point, wouldn't it?"

My shoulders dropped– the only leftover of my held-back sigh of annoyance. Kirei might have been a bad man, but he'd never measure up to be as much of an annoying prick as this guy.

I gave in and turned to face the blonde. "The only reason I'm here is so that it _doesn't _progress to that point."

He smiled at me –sneered condescendingly, pardon– and poured wine into a chalice of some kind. "How amusing… that you find such a miserable creature to be worth saving."

"What difference does it make to you?"

The narrowing of the eyes told me he didn't like the tone I took with him, although he moved past it with a scoff. "None at all. A passing curiosity on my part."

My response was nonverbal. I grunted and went back to staring out the window.

"…"

How long did this operation take, anyway?

"So… a hero complex, is it?"

My head whipped back to him. "I thought you said you didn't care."

"I don't, really. That, you can believe." He chuckled then sipped from the chalice. "Only, I find myself needing to ask... An ignorant creature you may be, but surely you must know that you'll need to sacrifice much more than anything you'll get in return for your efforts. Do you seek to nurture her and one day take her as your woman? No… that can't be it either. While her _physique_ may soon turn to that of a fine flower, her fruit is forever marred– it will never be ripe for picking. Perhaps–"

"You can stop now. It's not something you'll ever understand."

While he might have let my flippant attitude slide previously, he wasn't about to be so "gracious" twice.

The air thickened dangerously. If I were anyone else, maybe I would have been scared. "Be mindful of your tone, mongrel."

Indignant crimson met hardened steel.

"Heh." He suddenly covered his mouth. "Heheha. Hahahaha! Yes! Carry on just like that! Soon, we'll see if it's something _you _understand, yourself!"

His smirk –now more indulgent– found itself firmly planted on his face once more. "I look forward to it, fake little boy."

He stopped, seemingly mulling… something over. "Oh? I _do_ like the way that rolls off the tongue. _Fake_. How fitting."

I stiffened as my guard raised. The man was whimsical but dull-minded he was not. Doubtlessly observant, how much had he pieced together and how much was merely speculation?

He walked off into the shadows of the church. "Until next time, _faker_."

I smiled wryly. How fitting indeed.

X

Kirei's ever-present smile was as unsettling as always, but he looked unusually haggard. Something seemed to be _missing, _though it couldn't have been anything important; he was _already_ missing all his important bits.

"I got rid of many, though mostly just what I could find at the surface. I could not remove the ones attached to her nerves or her heart, for she would surely die if I tried."

I didn't bother asking what he had to do to accomplish that much. Instead, I zeroed in on the haggard but now conscious girl.

When she saw me, she tried to push herself up into a sitting position.

"Ah…" she whimpered wordlessly. Her arms trembled under their own weight.

I pushed her back down as gently as I could. "It's alright, Sakura."

"I should… go… back…"

I stopped her right there. "Didn't I tell you? I won't let that happen. _Definitely _not after I went through the trouble of getting those pesky things out of you."

Horrified, her eyes widened. "You… knew."

"Yeah," I didn't bother to deny.

"…Then why?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you doing this? If you really… about grandfather… then…"

Her words were coming out a jumbled mess, but I could understand the gist of what she was trying to say. "Because I want to."

My answer was simple and to the point. I couldn't give her anything more elaborate because I was still trying to give _myself _a straight answer. I spent every moment until the day I died chasing a faulty ideal, then everything after that hating it for what it turned me into. The short while that I've existed liberated from that dogma has been nothing short of confusing.

Was this the right path? Who could say? I'll just have to find out.

"Just let me… die…"

Tears flowed freely from her eyes. Was it shame? Embarrassment? Self-loathing?

Likely all of those things.

"No."

"…" Her face reverted to a dead stare. It was strange to see the tears trickle down her cheeks in spite of the stony expression.

The "fake priest", as Rin would call him, had been content to simply observe until now. I don't know what possessed him to finally ask me, "…What's your name, young man?"

I could lie, but I didn't see a point. If anything, it would probably serve as a deterrent of sorts. "Emiya Shirou."

Sparks of life crossed his tired eyes. "Emiya? Emiya, you said?"

I didn't answer.

"Hmhm…" he laughed into his fist. "Fascinating. Truly an amusing turn of events."

I looked away from the recovering child to try to get a read on the man– never an easy task, that. Luckily, I doubted that he'd act out now.

"I'm going to move you now, Sakura. I'm taking you home."

"She's weak… barely holding on to her life. You should try to be careful," warned Kirei.

The only words to come out of his mouth that I could say with all certainty were true.

"Don't worry, I will be."

I lifted Sakura and maneuvered as to lean her against my back. I did my best to move as slowly as possible.

At this rate, Kiritsugu might have to wait a little while longer.

X

The moment he saw what condition Sakura was in, Kiritsugu pulled us into the house with haste. He took her from me, laying her flat on the table in the next room.

"Tell me everything, Shirou."

A career as a contract killer probably screwed him up, but it taught him not to dawdle if nothing else.

For a moment, I weighed my options. I could come clean and save us all the trouble, or I could just as easily construct some sort of believable lie to get him out of my hair.

…No. keeping something this serious from him would do no good.

"She fainted while we were out. Her grandfather has his familiars –crest worms– littered all over her insides. I took her to the church and the priest managed to get rid of most of them, but now she's completely spent."

He furrowed his brows. "What priest?"

Really? _That _was his takeaway?

…Did he not know that Kotomine Kirei was at the church? It was my impression that they were enemies. There's no way that he'd let someone like that drop off the map without a good reason.

Again, something that wasn't too important right now.

"Shirou… what happened to your eyes?"

Oh, right. That slipped my mind. This could be tricky.

"…"

"Not only are you dealing with magi and the church, but now this? What is it that you're not telling me?"

"I…"

This would be the part where I come up with some sort of roundabout explanation that may or may not convince the man that this was all one strange happenstance and that he should –again– look the other way.

More and more, I was thinking that would do more harm than good. I thought that doing things as they came to me would be fine since I already knew what the future held, but…

That wasn't true anymore– it was _never _true, actually. My memory of this part of my life –of Shirou– had fallen victim to time. Forgetting wasn't the issue. It was knowing better to begin with. I didn't know enough about Zouken to save Sakura, I didn't know enough about Kotomine to tell if going to him would come back to bite me in the ass, and apparently I didn't know enough about Kiritsugu to be sure he wouldn't try to stick my brains to a bullet right now.

A quick look to the side confirmed that Sakura was out of it once again. Good.

As far as leaps of faith went, this was the steepest one I've ever allowed myself. But that's what _this _was all about, right? Doing… _something _differently?

Well, let's see how this goes.

"Many years from now, Emiya Shirou will make a contract with Alaya and become her Counter Guardian."

X

To my adoptive father's credit, he allowed me to finish without a single interruption. He listened without once losing his mask of indifference.

He wanted to know what I wasn't telling him, right? So here it was. All of it.

I awaited his reaction with trepidation.

"And you're telling me all this on the basis that I should believe you?"

Those were the first words he spoke.

"Yes."

"…"

He was skeptical. I would be, too.

"I have no proof, unfortunately. There's nothing that I could show you with my magecraft, nor is there anything that I know about you that would convince you."

I saw the muscles in his jaw rippled as he clenched his teeth. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Then let's assume for a second that I _do _believe you. What is it that you're trying to accomplish? If I influenced you the way I did, why come back to me? Why hide it? Why are you telling me _now_?"

There were a lot of loaded questions there, so I would start with the most straightforward. "I already told you, didn't I? I'm not here to be a hero or anything. Someone once told me that I can be happy as long as I can be there for the people I care about. I'm just trying to keep them safe."

Unflinchingly, he opened his eyes to meet my own. "Then that's why you're so oddly protective of this Sakura girl? She's not some stranger you picked up off the street that you pitied. She's one of these people you're trying to save."

An infinitesimally small part of me wanted to tell him that he, too, was one of those people. I wouldn't though. A combination of pride, bitterness and years of lasting contempt stopped me.

"Yeah. She, and a few others. Even Illya, as unfortunate as her current circumstances are."

My enhanced vision picked up on how he stilled at the mention of his daughter. "And pray tell, what do you think you can do about _that_?"

"You can't get to her, right? The Einzbern family's doing their damndest to keep you out, and you're too weak to fight back."

It wasn't really a question. It was more just me telling him what I already knew.

His silence told me he caught on to that.

"It's not something that would be too difficult for me to do. If you help me, I can get your daughter– _my sister_," I stressed, "out of there."

He wasn't convinced. "You have the body of a seven-year-old child, Shirou."

"Trace on."

Three Noble Phantasms were brought into the world behind me, their edges piercing the floorboard in an act of non-aggression.

Hrunting.

Gae Bolg.

Durandal.

Three weapons of great renown. Their craftmanship was unmatched in the modern era, but more importantly, the bore an _aura _that made them unmistakable for anything other than tools of great power.

Kiritsugu looked like a fish right now, I remarked. His jaw was doing funny things.

"This… Just maybe…"

I would cast the line but it was up to him to take the other end. "I can _help you_, old man."

He crossed his arms and looked away. No words were spoken between the two of us for close to a minute. The only sound that broke the silence was Sakura's steady breathing.

"We'll stop by London once your school year ends. Is that alright with you?"

There were things we'd have to iron out, notably what we'd do with the girl that was currently knocked out on the table beside us.

I'm glad.

"That's fine."

"Good."

"Does that mean I don't have to mess around with any more guns?"

"No, quite the opposite."

I cried petulantly, "What? Why?"

"You want to work with me, right? As you are now, you're no better than any other mage."

"…" I held my tongue, waiting for him to elaborate.

"If you can pull stuff like _that" –_he pointed over my shoulder– "then I don't doubt your capabilities. However, your displeasure for modern methods means your weaknesses are just as blatant and exploitable as any of those other old-fashioned fools."

I felt the need to defend myself. "I can't say I agree. That's a lot of arrogance to live up to."

Instead of arguing, he gave me an applied example.

From his pocket, he took out a strange-looking device. It almost looked like a–

His thumb pressed a button.

I stilled.

A little red dot appeared on my body. It was a… light?

Crap. It was a laser sight.

I followed the laser back to the source. With my quasi-inhuman vision, I spotted a strange turret-mounted… thing set up on a roof a few houses out.

I cursed my carelessness. How did I not–

…Of course, I didn't sense it. There was nothing outstanding about the damn thing. Its origins weren't mystical in the slightest, so neither my vision nor my sense of smell would help me. I wasn't looking out for something like that either since the only person who'd ever try something like this was…

"Okay, I get your point."

"Good."

He put away the switch and the laser disappeared. I was hyperaware of the turret now, though.

"…So what now?" I asked awkwardly.

"Now, we work out a plan of action. I don't have long to live, so we're on a time limit."

What could I do about _that_, I wondered.

"Getting to Illya won't be as difficult as it will be to keep her alive," I informed him straight away. "Jubstacheit intends for her to be the Lesser Grail, so her 'shelf life' as a homunculus isn't the greatest."

Kiritsugu grimaced. This was something he already knew, from the looks of it. "And you're certain the War will take place so soon?"

"Yes."

Unfortunately for us, no matter how versatile my Unlimited Blade Works seemed to be, I couldn't think of any Noble Phantasm or Mystic Code that could 'magically' solve our current problems. Sakura and Illya's bodies were a mess. Kiritsugu's too, but that was a whole other can of worms.

They would need new ones.

My mind betrayed me, and my train of thought went down _one _railway I didn't want to go near. At all. Ever.

I really hoped we wouldn't have to end up asking _her _for help. I really, really did.

That would take so much effort and pain and would be a terrible scenario the whole way through.

I took a deep breath, shelving that thought straight away. One step at a time.

It was already a small miracle that Kiritsugu was willing to hear me out. I could have sworn there'd be a little more paranoia in there somewhere.


	6. Chapter 6

(A/N) Hello! And welcome to another episode of Dragon Ball Z. Hopefully, everyone is staying safe amid current irl happenings.

Before anything else, I'd like to ask that people please (pretty please, with a cherry on top) stop trying to argue whether or not Emiya could or could not use guns because of Miyuverse or Extra. Other than material books, there is **no material that is canon to the fate stay night universe outside of the original vn**, so it's already troublesome enough to sort through what can or can't be applied/expanded upon through the countless and barely-noticeable AU that exist within the franchise. The closest (and most reliable) sources we have are the likes of Case Files, Zero, Garden of Sinners, Magician's Night and Tsukihime.

Please don't talk to me about _Notes. _because I won't have a clue what you're saying.

Other than those, I will accept Riyo lore as a viable source of information.

Examples include:

\- Gawain has the power level of a Saiyan Oozaru when he sunbathes

\- Irisviel would have 100% gone mom-mode on Shirou

\- Medb belongs to the streets

And such.

I _am not saying I know everything about fate _(hell no). In fact, there is _so much _that has slipped my mind it's not even funny. For things that are open to interpretation (such as mastery vs mystery is in UBW's energy consumption), I am _more _than willing to go back and change things if there's a general consensus that the community is more comfortable with.

That whole bit was much longer than it should have been. My apologies for wasting time.

Enjoy, mi amigos.

X

It was with great scrutiny that I made sure the handgun I was tinkering with was working properly. Thankfully, my predisposed talent with structural analysis ensured that the process didn't take longer than a moment.

I picked it up, tilting it from side to side. This should be fine, right?

One more time, then.

Nimbly, I stripped the firearm and laid its components on a clear space before me. It barely took an instant longer to put it all together.

Much better. Not to bad, I'd say.

"Hm…"

What time was it now? It couldn't be too long past midnight.

"…"

I crossed my arms in thought. Should I call it a night here?

…No. I should definitely take advantage of whatever free time I have. Even if I wouldn't catch much sleep, it would be worth it in the end.

One could hope, at least.

I took a deep breath. Another. The time of day didn't allow for my magecraft to be at its peak, but it would do just fine regardless.

**"I am the bone of my sword."**

So far, so good. As the words left my lips, they felt _right_. My reality marble hummed, in a sense, stimulated by the opening line of my aria. There was no issue here.

"Steel is my body, and…"

I couldn't help but frown as I trailed off. I couldn't feel _anything. _Not an ounce of magical energy passed through me or the Unlimited Blade Works. It remained unchanged.

Shit.

My incantation was very close to a ten-count aria. To be missing everything after the first line meant that close to ninety percent of its effects were no longer at my disposal. Summoning Noble Phantasms was one thing, but actually trying to use certain mysteries would be a no-go. Without a strengthened "veil" provided by the reality marble, they'd be shut down by Gaia too quickly to be of any use to me.

Arms like Gae Bolg or even _Caliburn_ wouldn't be nearly as effective as they normally would. A simple projection would still offer me a weapon of peerless quality– along with the means to use it to a limited extent– but the _reversal of causality _or the _manifestation of humanity's will _wouldn't work.

Rather, they would, the only issue is that it would be for less than a _sliver_ of a second and I'd likely explode along with my abused circuits.

Or something dramatic of the sort.

It was a small mercy that the first line wasn't lost to me. Even a crack-sized opening of the "floodgates" would alleviate that disadvantage– if only momentarily. In a pinch, I'd be able to use a Noble Phantasm or two to something close to full efficacy without damaging myself terribly.

Still, it went without saying that I would have to figure out why my aria wasn't working as quickly as possible.

Full usage of the Unlimited Blade Works requires me to have a complete understanding of myself. The incantation was deeply personal –more so than I would have liked– which meant that every word was an admittance of every abnormality that lead to me becoming a human sword.

The most evident explanation was that I wasn't as sure in my beliefs as I thought I was– Alaya rejecting me was as good of an assurance to that as I was going to get. I would assume –and hope– that seeing my new self-assigned "mission" through would help me sort things out.

I started to feel a sting in my eye. Maybe it _was _a good time to pack it in. Tomorrow was the last day of school, and being late for that would only bring me more pain than it's worth.

"Sigh."

My eyes were another issue, weren't they? I did… something when I was at the church, and ever since then the color of my eyes has become something eerily similar to The Eye of the Mind. Not quite the same –after all, they were merely a representation of my extensive combat experience in the form of a servant skill, not mystic eyes– but my vision _was _enhanced in some capacity.

It wouldn't make sense for it to be anything more than that in the first place, though I haven't seen any combat to say that with any sort of confidence.

But then came my dilemma.

As much as I appreciated the boost, I couldn't see them as anything other than a huge pain in the ass right now. I still had to act like a normal child in public so as not to attract any unwanted attention, but I learned that it was considerably easier to conceal my use of thaumaturgy than _physical _features that make me look unmistakably not normal.

Getting silver eyes overnight was _not _normal.

It was much to my chagrin that I was forced to wear coloured contacts to school every day. It was terrible.

Hence the itchiness. In all my apparent wisdom, it didn't cross my mind to take them out before heading out to the shed.

Bah.

It took all of my willpower to not throw them on the ground right here and be done with it. Instead, I would suck it up, go to the bathroom, and put them back in their preserving case.

In front of the mirror, I groaned in pleasure as soon as I was free from those god-awful–

"Shirou?"

Hm?

Standing at the bathroom entrance was a tired-looking Sakura.

"What are you doing up this late?"

She averted her eyes. It was only after her lips quivered for longer than a few seconds that I realized she was struggling with her words.

"I, uhm… I wanted… are you…"

Honestly. The least she could do is save me the pain of trying to decipher her babbling at _this _dreadful hour.

"Tell me. What's wrong?"

"You… you and mister Kiritsugu… you're leaving, right?"

Ah. So that's what it was.

The old man made it no secret that he wanted us to move to England– at least for the length of my year-end break. He argued that living somewhere within a day's travel of the Clock Tower would make it easier to reach a large majority of the people he wanted to get in touch with.

Who those people were, he didn't say.

Actually, he was being pretty secretive about the whole thing. He admitted that this was something he was planning for a while, though he didn't tell me upfront until he found out about my peculiar situation.

Disregarding my displeasure with how little I was being told, a more pressing concern –as I was beginning to realize just now– was where Sakura fit into all this.

Sending her back to Zouken was out of the question. Could she stay with Raiga?

…No. That wouldn't work either.

Were this a mundane threat, he'd be perfect. He had men, money, influence, and he could definitely be trusted. Lamentably, Zouken was so far from a mundane threat it was maddening. There were no words to express how much easier this would be if the bastard could just _keel over and die_.

Sakura shifted awkwardly. Right. I was a little lost in thought.

In what I hoped was taken as a reassuring gesture, I ran my hand through her hair and shook it up playfully. If I did this to someone like Rin, I wouldn't have a hand anymore. She seemed to take it just fine, though.

"We won't abandon you. Just leave it to me."

Easier said than done, unfortunately.

Hah. What a troublesome girl.

I took her silence as a sign of acceptance. Even if it wasn't, it was time for rest, not conversation.

"Come. Let's bring you back to bed."

This was something I'd have to talk over with Kiritsugu.

X

"Congratulations Tohsaka, Emiya. You've both had _perfect _grades all year. It will be our pleasure to have you back next spring."

After the year-end announcements, the homeroom teacher pulled Rin and I aside. I was a little curious to know what he had to say, but it turned out that he just wanted to gush over his two academically gifted pupils.

Well, _pupil_. I couldn't say I was anywhere near the girl next to me in terms of intelligence. I just had a _big _head start.

"Thank you," responded the little magus with a gracious bow. It was well executed; I could tell she'd been practicing.

Oh?

Her fists were clenched. She was mad. What could she possibly be mad about?

She conversed amicably with the teacher in a way that was endearingly similar to a child trying to talk like a grownup. It was the knowledge that she wasn't too far off in intellect from the said grownup that muted my amusement.

The teacher took off with one last goodbye. He was passionate about his job, if nothing else.

It was just the two of us left in the halls now. The other kids had already been taken home.

That was my queue, then.

"Have a nice break Tohsaka. See you–"

"Emiya-kun."

A hand held me in place before I could turn around to leave.

"Hm?"

She squeezed me like she was trying to turn my shoulder to dust. Honestly, what a frightening little kid.

"You… I'll _beat you next time for sure_!" she shouted.

Eh?

She continued, "Don't think that you're my equal just because we got the same grades! I'll make you understand why you won't be able to keep it up!"

It would be cocky, coming from anyone else. _Cockier_, at the very least. She cared about her image a lot more than I did, so I didn't doubt for a second that her perfect record would eventually outlast my own.

"I know," I agreed easily enough.

For whatever contrived reason, my efforts to appease her only pissed her off more. She puffed out her cheeks. There was so much blood rushing to her head that she was beginning to look like a twin-tailed cherry tomato.

"Stop looking down on me!"

Was that how she saw it? I couldn't see why.

Tomato Rin stomped her foot petulantly. "You're the worst! Just because you know a few things, you think that you can hold it over my head like that?"

"When have I _once_ held something over your head?"

She looked like she wanted to bury _my_ head in the ground.

There weren't any words to be heard from her mouth. Despite her evident… dissatisfaction, she couldn't call me out on any one thing without it sounding forced.

I sighed. "Look. Let's get along, okay?"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. What could she say, though? _No?_

Of course not. It would be an inexplicable grudge that would do nothing but ruin her public image.

I got her.

Tomato Rin huffed, but looked away. "Until next time, then, Emiya-kun."

Finally. Maybe she'd be a bit more civil from now on. Not that I'd ever express that relief to her vocally, lest I find myself catching a "mysterious illness".

I smiled at her, though it just made her turn away even more. "Yeah. Until next time, Tomato–"

Urghk.

For a moment, there was nothing but a dead silence between us. I likened my stiffness to staying absolutely still in the presence of a dangerous predator.

It took her a few seconds to process my slip-up, and it retrospect those were valuable seconds that would have allowed me to escape.

Too late now, though.

"…What did you call me?"

"Nothing. You must have misheard."

The least I could do was try.

"Did you just call me a tomato?"

"…"

"…"

Her brow twitched. Her eye followed, then her lip.

The alarms in my head went off one by one. Before me, I witnessed all the signs that foretold a great suffering.

_My _suffering, I could more than assume.

She must have realized that she was dangerously close to doing something illegal because her response wasn't a response at all. She turned about-face and walked away.

_…Stomped _away.

Sigh. So much for getting on her good side.

X

As I prepared dinner, my eyes landed on my tiny assistant. I reminded myself that I had to talk to Kiritsugu at some point. Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to do so in the morning. I had to go to school right after breakfast.

I _did_ have a little more time than usual to come up with something, thankfully. We were making much more food than usual.

The reason was that I was serving five people instead of the usual three. Ever since the old man came back from his trip, Raiga didn't have a reason –or an excuse– to spoil Sakura rotten all the time. To compensate, he made it a habit of coming over for meals along with his granddaughter whenever he could, and he'd bring little trinkets with him.

My gaze found the clock. They would be here soon.

Not much else needed to be done now that the roast was in the oven. I tapped Sakura lightly on the shoulder. "We're done for the next little while. I gotta talk to dad."

At her nod, I went to find my adoptive father out in the yard.

"Old man."

Sitting on the porch, leaning comfortably on his arms, he didn't bother turning around. Instead, he gave a pat to the spot next to him.

I accepted the invitation, joining him on the wooden floor. I decided to get straight to the point. "What do you plan on doing with Sakura when we leave?

"Hm?"

This time, he did turn my way. "What do you mean? She's coming with us, of course."

…What?

I didn't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't it. While it would keep her safe, taking her out of Fuyuki would be much easier said than done. It was risky, and Emiya Kiritsugu did _not _do "risky".

Evidently, he took notice of my confusion, for he told me, "To this day, I wonder what would have happened if I never left Illya behind; if I didn't weigh the risks of leaving her in Acht's care against the many intangibles that bringing her with us would have brought to light."

"…It was the right choice," I tried to placate him. Who in their right mind would bring a child into a bloodbath?

He laughed. "Maybe so. And yet… here we are."

He didn't have to explain what he meant. As I knew him, he'd live out his dying days in regret, not able to see his daughter ever again.

"You've done _many _things to keep that girl safe, Shirou. Frankly, many _foolish _things. If possible, I'd like to know if your efforts will prove to be any more successful than my own."

Me too, pop. Me too.

That still left one glaring, light-up neon flag for us to deal with.

"What about Zouken? He's not going to let us get away easily," I told him matter-of-factly.

He smiled whimsically. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

"…"

He had a plan. The bastard definitely had a plan, and he wouldn't tell me what it was. Whether my ignorance played a role, or he was just being difficult, I didn't know. I'd have to place my trust in him.

For now, I'll go tell Sakura the good news.

X

Bellies full, we said our goodbyes to the yakuza boss and his granddaughter.

"Take care you three!" exclaimed Taiga jubilantly from the front entrance. "Have fun on vacation!"

All three of us responded with a smile, even Sakura. She had an awkward grip on the large bear plush that Raiga had brought for her.

It was good that she was smiling. Evidently, it had been a relief to hear that she wouldn't be left behind. She was still hesitant at first, but my promise that her "grandfather" wouldn't be able to do anything assuaged her a great deal.

Once we got out of the country, there really _wasn't _much that the old worm could do short of hiring a mercenary to get her back. The crest worm in her heart was the last shackle keeping her hostage, and the bastard couldn't even do anything with it. If he killed her, not only would he lose his last shot at the grail, but he'd be vulnerable. He wouldn't have a host body anymore, and it would be all too simple to end him then and there.

Unfortunately, that cemented my traitorous thought that the simplest choice was to get her a new body and dispose of her old one.

Again, simplest, but far from the easiest.

_Definitely _not the easiest.

Our guests now gone, it was just us left in the house. "I'll put away the leftovers," I told Kiritsugu.

Moving on to different thoughts, I might have overestimated Taiga's appetite. I had made enough for a small army, rather than a portion better fit for a mid-sized platoon.

Not to discredit her in any way, however. She ate her share, but the rest of us had normal stomachs.

I frowned once I sealed the fourth container. Would we even be able to eat all of this before the flight? How wasteful.

If only we could pass some of it on to someone else.

…Oh.

"Old man!"

I should at least let him know where I'm going before I leave the house.

X

I made full use of the large knocker hung on the door of the European-styled mansion. Its inhabitant probably wouldn't hear me otherwise.

I heard a stumble– likely the resident being caught by surprise. I doubt she gets many visitors.

The door opened tentatively, and a single eye peered out. I could understand her worry, since her bounded fields would normally ward off any unwanted guests.

"Yo, Tohsaka."

The door swung open, and hesitance gave way to indignance. "Emiya-kun. What are you doing here?" she ordered shortly.

I held up the plastic bag I was carrying. "For you. I made too much food, and I wanted to apologize for upsetting you."

That was only partly true. After having dinner with friends and family, it had occurred to me that Rin had nothing of the sort. She'd go home every day to an empty house and was expected to take care of herself.

The priest was useless as a guardian, I would assume.

I hadn't even given it any thought until now. Understandably –or at least, I liked to think so– my priorities were trying to sort out more pressing issues, such as Sakura and my adoptive sister's family matters.

Howbeit, Rin didn't have it easy either. She was a dear friend of mine, no matter how much she wanted to strangle me right now. I'll endeavor to make things a little easier for her from now on.

"…Tohsaka?"

I tried calling her out. She'd been frozen stiff for some reason.

Her expression was unreadable, but her fingers were twitching vigorously. Poor girl probably didn't know how to respond in this situation.

It only made sense. Should she turn me away? Take my offering? Let me in? Her social instructor was _Kotomine _of all people, and he was about as likely to teach her proper host etiquette as he would be to grow a heart.

Not happening.

I'd take the difficult decision away from her.

Ignoring her surprised squawk, I pushed past her and entered the house.

"Excuse _you_!" she shouted.

Fair enough. "Excuse me," I said, as I took off my shoes. I b-lined to where I knew her kitchen was, placing my package on the countertop.

She ran after me. "This… this isn't a good time, Emiya!"

Oh? She sounded kind of rattled. Not that I thought about it, the house _did _smell of strange, saturated prana. She must have been working on her magecraft.

I played the innocent. "Hm? You've already eaten?"

As if to spite her, a rumble escaped the girl's stomach. A scarlet blush crossed her face.

I frowned. Rin should really take better care of herself. Pushing meals back too late is bad for the health.

I furrowed through her cupboards, disregarding her protests. The food was still warm, so I was able to prepare her dish quickly.

"Emi–"

"Eat," I told her quickly. I had learned a long time ago that the only way to get the upper hand on her was to not let her get a word in, to begin with. She would tear me apart, otherwise.

"I didn't even invite you in, you know…" Rin grumbled. Despite this, she didn't push away the plate placed in front of her.

Picking up the fork, she took a small, almost insignificant bite.

I smirked.

"It's… good."

Her eyes didn't find my own. Her gaze was kept on the meal.

There wasn't much else that I could do without completely invading her personal space, but for now…

"I'm going to Europe with my family for a little while. When I'm back, would you like to come over sometimes? Eating by yourself can be pretty boring."

If she took my comment cuttingly, it wasn't shown on her face. Without finishing her meal, she got to her feet and pushed me towards the door.

"It's embarrassing to eat with someone watching, you know. Get out."

Hah. I tried. 'Till next time, then.

"But… I'll make sure to eat what you've brought me. It won't go to waste."

My shoes thrown out the door along with me, the difficult girl slammed the door in my face.

I couldn't hold back my snort. A troublesome woman, this one.

At least she was grateful.

Probably.


	7. Chapter 7

(A/N) Well, here we are. Where is _here _exactly? That's for me to know, and for you to find out.

I'd like to thank everyone for this story's continued support. The last chapter reached, then passed the 100 review mark. It makes me happy to know that people are enjoying this project.

Now for the important bit. As many of you may know by now, we'll be exploring the nasuverse beyond the grail war. That includes –but is not limited to– the Clocktower and apostles, both of which are integral to most Type-Moon works. Despite their importance, however, we don't know too much about them.

As a result, I'll be using what elements we _do _know about, and I'll take creative liberties with what we don't to fit the canvas of the story. I promise two things: that anything I write that is contradicted in the future will be corrected if the flow of the story allows it, and that no OCs will have any extended roles. We're here for Nasu characters, not original characters, and as such they only exist to fill the blanks.

Now that the important stuff is outta the way, please enjoy the chapter!

X

"Here, let me take that."

Not giving her the opportunity to refuse my help, I lifted Sakura's suitcase from the ground and brought it to the front door. It was small –not too heavy either– but that was relative, I supposed.

According to Kiritsugu, our ride to the airport would arrive any minute now. There wasn't much else to do, only to double-check all the bags before taking off. Particularly, the inconspicuous briefcase that leaned against the wall. There wasn't a single thing in there that we'd want airport security getting a whiff of.

Still, I couldn't help my worry despite our preparedness. We were basically taking the Matou heir out of the city against the expressed wishes of the family head. Experience told me this situation could and _would _devolve very quickly.

The doorbell rang.

How strange. Guests were rare enough, let alone those that rang the doorbell. Could it be the Fujimura gang? It wouldn't be out of the question for them to be our escorts.

As I opened the door, my only solace was that it couldn't be Zouken. The bounded fields wouldn't allow that thing within ten feet of the property.

Hm? Who was this?

It was a Caucasian man. He was fairly tall, though quite evidently not in the best shape. I couldn't tell if his expensive-looking suit was tailored or not since it needed to hang over that mountain he called a stomach.

To his credit, he looked friendly enough– from what little I could tell from a second's glance. His twinkling eyes and bright smile shone through a bushy blond mustache. Quite the youthful look, if one could overlook the greying hair and balding scalp.

Despite this, I knew not to assume that he'd be friendly at all. He was a magus. Likely one from the Clocktower. I could smell it.

"Old man!" I called over my shoulder. "We've got company."

Kiritsugu met us at his own pace. "Lord Meluastea. It's a pleasure," he greeted in English.

Meluastea… the name was familiar, but I couldn't remember why.

…Hold on. A Lord?

The Lord in question laughed jovially. "Indeed it is, Emiya. Calling you was a last-ditch effort of mine. You seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth, so you can imagine my surprise when you picked up the line!"

I could, actually. My surprise must have matched his own, since I was under the impression that Kiritsugu _wanted _to drop off the radar.

Starkly contrasting the man, my adoptive father's expression was stone cold. Not quite unwelcoming, but definitely more interested in business than in formalities. "Your needs align with my own, Lord Meluastea. It's fortunate that you were willing to make the trip all the way here, especially on such short notice."

The Lord waved his hand dismissively. "It's no skin off my back. While taking a jaunt through such a backwater country wasn't something I planned, I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant getting this… _predicament_ of mine over with quickly and cleanly."

Meluastea looked at me properly for the first time, then his eyes trailed behind us to find Sakura. "And these two are?"

"Apprentices of mine. They'll be coming with us."

"They won't complicate matters, I hope?"

"No."

Another laugh. "Who am I to argue with the great Magus Killer himself! That's fine. I'll be waiting in the car."

With that, the magus stepped out the door.

"…That was…" I trailed off. It was an unexpected meeting to say the least.

The Lords of the Clocktower very rarely stepped out of their place of governance, let alone made the trip to an Asian country _on purpose_.

"Lord Meluastea was _very _recently elected to replace the old director of the Kischur faculty. He called me out of the blue one day, sounding awfully distraught. From what I could gather, some wayward magi stole property belonging to the mineralogy department, and he wants them dealt with and swept under the rug before anyone can call his competence as an overseer into question. I had conditions for my service."

"Those being?"

"That he come escort us himself, namely. We don't have access to a private transportation service here, so getting across the border unnoticed would be a little less convenient otherwise."

…I get it now. That was his plan all along.

I doubted Kiritsugu actually needed his sponsors to hold him by the hand whenever he needed to move inconspicuously. _This _was his insurance that Zouken couldn't get in our way. He wouldn't risk it now, not if intercepting us meant catching the attention of a Lord.

A man with connections is frightening, indeed.

"And _why _couldn't you mention this earlier?"

"Hm?" he looked at me with a tilt of the head. "Didn't I?"

I shook mine. "Never mind."

A silence formed as the three of us walked out the door with our luggage. "Say," I spoke. There was one thing I was still curious about, if just barely. "What happened to the previous Lord?"

I was met with a wry grin.

"I killed him."

Tch. Of course he did.

X

The Lord's limousine was undoubtedly more spacious than I would've thought had I only seen it from the outside. Was it some sort of magecraft? It could be, though it could have just as easily been the product of a smart interior arrangement.

The three of us –Kiritsugu, Sakura, and I– sat along a couch-like seat that spread lengthwise form one end of the vehicle to another. Meluastea took a similar position on the identical couch that lined the wall facing us.

"We won't be at the strip for another while yet. Let us take the time to discuss the specifics of my humble request," imposed the jubilant magus. He took the manilla folder at his side and passed it to Kiritsugu.

As my old man retrieved its contents, the Lord explained, "Those are the student records of the two imbeciles you'll have to track down, along with photographs of the item I want you to retrieve. From what I've been told, they've been spotted crossing the Swiss border into Germany."

Germany? I doubted it was a coincidence. Still, I was told we were going to Europe to meet contacts, not to pick a fight with the Einzbern family.

Yet.

I peered over Kiritsugu's shoulder to see what we'd be looking for. At the forefront of the paper stack was a film picture of some sort of gemstone.

"It cannot be known under _any _circumstances that the jewel has left the premises of the clocktower. We won't land in Frankfurt before tomorrow, so you'll need to move quickly to track them down. I trust you'll be able to accomplish that just fine?"

"Of course," agreed the Magus Killer easily.

Part of me wanted to ask why the stone was so important, though the department head probably wouldn't answer my question truthfully, if at all. He wanted this kept secret; that we actually had to _see _the thing was likely bad enough in his eyes.

No more was said. All that was heard was the shuffling of papers in Kiritsugu's hands, until, "These magi… they aren't from Kischur. They're from the faculty of archeology."

I didn't know that his observation meant anything until a frown settled on Meluastea's face.

"Indeed. Though I won't be quick to direct any blame, I fear that this was an attempt to slander my name, and to have me removed from my position."

"The Astaire faculty of archeology is run by your brother," Kiritsugu stated. I couldn't help feeling a little confused, as I didn't think there could be two lords of the same family within the Clocktower. Then again, it wasn't as if I was the most well-versed on the matter.

"It is," agreed the greying man somberly. "He was under the impression that he'd be given power over two divisions within the school, so one could only imagine his disappointment when the family appointed me to the second spot."

I wouldn't pretend to know how Lords are elected, or if they're even elected at all, but I couldn't say I cared either way. From what I could gather, Kiritsugu only took this job to help us get out of Fuyuki. Whether or not the man was being screwed over by his own family was no skin off my bones.

"So it's not the jewel itself they care about then. They just want you to look bad," I spoke. My English was quite fluent, I'd like to think, though my accent was a little strange if one paid close enough attention.

The magus shook his head. "Not exactly. From what I hear, they have a buyer."

Ah. That's a little more complicated then.

"Who?" Kiritsugu asked.

"I don't know, I'm afraid."

The danger of an unknown factor wasn't lost on any of us– save for Sakura, maybe; as a young child, she was only here because it was more convenient to bring her with us than to leave her to the wolves. She was still about as vocal and expressive as rock, though, so I couldn't say for sure.

She didn't speak English either, now that I thought about it. We'd have to explain everything to her later. How bothersome.

Kiristugu closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "If I were to take a guess… I'd say they're somewhere in Konstanz. The place is a hub for eccentric personalities that would risk the ire of the Mage's Association if they felt it was worth the effort. It's just over the border too; a good place to start our search, if nothing else."

Meluastea stroked his moustache. "Mhm… but if you're wrong, where do you go from there?"

"Then we follow the Rhine."

A well known European river. If I recalled correctly, it extended from the Alps all the way to the north sea, passing through France, Switzerland, Germany–

Ah. It leads straight to the Einzbern castle. Of course, if the buyer wasn't near the border, then you look for the family you _know_ wouldn't give a rat's ass about what the Mage's Association might think.

The insinuation wasn't lost on the Lord of Kischur. "I see…"

X

We had arrived in Germany without much interruption, thankfully. Meluastea had a private runway, so we didn't have to deal with wait times or even customs. I wasn't sold on the legality of such lengths, but I wasn't going to bring it up, either.

Rather than ride the train, the Lord was kind enough to provide a vehicle that we could use for the remainder of the expedition. He stayed behind, however, saying he had business to attend to in the area after giving us the address to his local manor for when we were finished.

I briefly wondered why he had a property in Germany, but decided it wasn't that strange. The Einzbern had a castle in Japan, after all.

Kiritsugu was lent a Bentley Continental– leave it to a Clocktower mage to drive a British car on German soil. Sakura was in the backseat, staring at her surroundings in wonder, while I sat shotgun next to the old man. We had a few hours on the road yet, so I took the time to skim through the profiles of the two troublemakers.

Alcmene Galliasta. The first-born of a relatively young magus lineage. An alchemist. Recently transferred in from the faculty of modern magecraft theory.

Edor Archis. Apparently a well-respected magus within the college community of Rocks Road. It was a surprise that he'd try something so stupid, considering he'd been around for the last fifty-somewhat years. Then again, he was probably feeling pretty restless if his life still hadn't gone anywhere in that amount of time.

Neither of them seemed particularly outstanding or dangerous in any way. Their published research was mediocre, their circuits were average at best, and neither had any connections to vouch for them. At all.

There was nothing in the profiles that would indicate a relation between them, either. It all seemed so random.

We weren't getting the full story, because either Meluastea didn't have it himself, or he didn't feel inclined to share it.

"Tch."

Kiritsugu glanced at me, before dragging his eyes back to the road. "Thoughts?"

"We're missing something here," I repeated aloud.

"You caught on. Good."

"Is there a reason we're doing this?" I felt the need to ask. This seemed like it could turn into a hassle, and we were already here. It wasn't as if the Lord could ship us back off to Japan if we hurt his feelings.

"Connections are important for a magus, Shirou. You scratch a Lord's back now so that you can make him scratch yours later on."

I snorted. It didn't slip me by that he said "make him scratch". If nothing else, I could always trust a magus to be a stingy bastard.

X

The first thing I noticed once we entered Konstanz was how populated it was.

That wasn't to say I had any preconception of how many people lived here, only that I found it strange how many people walked the streets considering the relative size of the town. The crowd was bustling, the sidewalks resembling something closer to what would come to mind when one thought of somewhere like Berlin or Munich.

Was there some sort of event? A local festival?

The car pulled into the parking lot of an unassuming corporate hotel. It wasn't run down in any shape or form, but it clearly wasn't a five-star location either.

Kiritsugu went to grab the luggage from the trunk while I helped Sakura get down from the car without hurting herself.

"What's the plan?" I asked him as I lead the girl by the hand. I couldn't imagine the man would want to waste time.

"…That'll be up to you."

Me? Wasn't _he _supposed to be the mercenary here? I had a feeling I'd be doing most of the heavy lifting since he wasn't as physically able as he used to be, but still.

He wanted to test me, then. Whether he believed me when I spoke about my past or not, he still wouldn't trust me with the safety of his child if he didn't know the extent of my abilities.

Understandable. This wouldn't be a difficult task for me, regardless.

…Or at least, it shouldn't be. I was quite adept at tracking targets, but that was more of a fortunate combination of physical talents than any sort of methodology. My go-to strategy was to find a high perch and _look_, then literally sniff people out. I could cover a lot of ground in very little time, so it worked out just fine for me… when I wasn't a seven-year-old.

My current eyesight was still a mystery, but I couldn't bet on being able to see kilometers into the distance right now. Hell, I'd struggle to scale any building that's even _close _to tall enough in the first place. I'd have to make do with my peculiar sixth-sense: my ability to "smell" magical presences.

Konstanz wasn't large –it couldn't be much larger than fifty square kilometers– but we didn't have time to waste either, if we wanted to catch the perpetrators before they sold the jewel and left us in the dust. I couldn't flip every stone and hope to luck out.

"This place has a well-known magus community, right? I can go into town and track the first magical trail I find. From there, it shouldn't be too hard to find a lead, assuming I ask the right people the right questions."

Like the old man said, Konstanz was home to bizarre and whimsical academics who would ignore the laws of the Mage's Association if it meant they could progress in their ventures. If there really _was _such a high-profile dealing going on here, I could hope that the excitement of the buyer would outweigh any need to keep things secretive.

I frowned, realizing that I was being awfully presumptuous. And hopeful.

"You could," agreed Kiritsugu easily, to my surprise. "I suggest you find a way to get near the downtown area. Gathering spots of the moonlit world often coincide with those of the mundane. Sakura and I will stay in the hotel. Come back and let me know if you find something before you act on anything."

I nodded, surprised that he didn't argue. Maybe he wanted to see how far my own methods could take me before I gave up?

"Hn," I agreed.

Kiritsugu tossed me a wallet. Opening it, I found various forms of identification –all clearly fake– and some deutsche marks.

I turned to leave–

Sakura held me back by the sleeve. Honestly, this girl. She should learn to speak her mind.

"Yes?"

"…Don't get hurt."

I laughed, squeezing her hand gently before letting go. "Of course not."

X

It was easy enough to jump onto a local bus that brought me into the heart of town. Thankfully, the mapping of the bus routes was easy enough to understand.

I slipped through the crowd which wasn't even a _bit_ smaller than it was earlier. I was alert and ready to follow the first scent I could find, but I quickly encountered my first problem.

The smell of magecraft was everywhere.

It was so saturated that I had difficulty smelling if it came from any which way. It was almost as if there was something supernatural around every corner.

…That was _almost _it. It was the _crowd_. There were countless mages intertwined with the common folk. At the very least, it would explain how populated the streets had become, in the case in which the majority of the mages were foreigners.

If not the illegal purchase of an expensive rock, there was definitely _something _going on here.

Unfortunately, my efforts were burdened by the fact that there wasn't more than a foot of space between one individual and the next. I couldn't single out any one magus by their smell since I could just as easily be talking to a regular person standing _next _to a magus by accident.

I'd have to find another way.

"…the exhibit was…"

"…too expensive. I'd prefer…"

"…a puppet, for every…"

I tried to listen to my surroundings, but there were too many people to catch much more than snippets. Many people –likely the mages– seemed to be talking about a shared topic. But what?

I had to stop myself before I ran into someone's back. For whatever reason, the crowd had slowed down.

…No. It wasn't that. I'd slipped out of the crowd and fallen into some sort of gathering.

A lineup.

Apparently, I had stopped near some sort of… storefront? Boutique? Gallery? I couldn't tell. I looked through the nearby window to get a better understanding of what all these people were trying to get to.

Huh?

Was it a boutique after all? There were many mannequins, but I couldn't see any clothes…

Oh. They weren't mannequins, they were–

I could feel my stomach flip.

Puppets.

Very well made puppets.

Very well made, undeniably magical puppets that I had every intention of pretending I didn't see.

I spun on my heels and traced my steps back to the hotel whence I came.

It was unfortunate, but I'd have to tell Kiritsugu that my efforts were meaningless. The magical presence in the town was too saturated. We should just give up, tell the damn Lord that we lost his stone, and–

The mob gave me an ample berth when I snapped and kicked a nearby trashcan. It was bolted to the ground, so it didn't do anything other than make a loud "thunk".

How! No… Why! _Why was she here! _She had no reason to be here. At all.

Please, someone tell her to leave

_Please._

With a resigned breath, I cursed.

Well, shit. It wasn't as though I could actually avoid this for much longer.

Could anyone blame me, though?

There was a saying that made its way through the moonlit world. Even someone like me caught wind of it at a certain point. Unfortunately, I learned my lesson after the fact, so the saying lost much of its value.

"If their name is Aozaki, stay away," as it went.

My dealings with this devil in the flesh of a woman were brief, but definitely memorable. Never in my seemingly-eternal existence had I met someone capable of simultaneously making me fear for my life, want to strangle them, _and_ want to strangle _myself_.

Her sister? I've heard some say she's _worse_. I couldn't believe it.

A deep breath.

I had to think about this calmly. Why would she be here? The woman was designated for "sealing" by the Clocktower, though from what I understood, it wasn't for any of the numerous crimes that I'd wager she's probably committed. Rather, her prowess was desired, and they felt that keeping her around twenty-four seven was the best course of action.

Idiots.

At any rate, she was a free spirit, among other things. If she didn't want to be tied down, it would make _sense _that she'd be jumping from place to place. If she wanted to make any sort of living as a fugitive, then I supposed these strange pop-up puppet displays would be a secure and versatile way to get investors for her research.

For the sake of my own mental health, I didn't try to weigh the odds of running into her in some random university town in Germany.

Loathe as I was to admit it, though, if anyone had any information on nearby business transactions, it would be her. She was a frustratingly well-informed individual.

To my unfathomable dismay, my pondering whether I should ask her for information or pretend she didn't exist was cut short and decided for me. A hand rested on my shoulder.

"Something wrong, kid? You can take a look inside, if you want."

I froze. As if I didn't want to accept reality –which I didn't– my head fought me as I forced it to turn in order to face the one addressing me.

She was a youthful-looking woman, though definitely a grown adult. She was dressed in a conservative fashion, and yet her figure filled her clothing too provocatively for that to matter. The ponytail holding her red hair was quite loose, leaving strands to be pushed aside by her glasses.

She was staring at me wide-eyed, expecting some sort of answer. A shitty-smelling cigarette was lolled idly between her lips.

Fuck.


	8. Chapter 8

(A/N) Noice, chapter 8.

How big a part of this version of Emiya is Archer? How much is Shirou? How much is something else entirely? _He_ doesn't know, but maybe we'll get a better idea by the end of this one. Or not. Prepare yourselves for Shirou's horribly biased and not-yet-explained opinions of Aozaki Touko.

X

As I thought, the building was set up as a temporary exhibition. Though the interior was large, it could barely account for the sheer quantity of admirers that came to see _her_ work.

Strangely enough, there were just as many magi as there were regular people, by the looks of it. Even without my sense of "smell", I could tell; dwellers of the moonlit world had a certain flair to them that couldn't be matched by those who were anchored to the mundane.

From the corner I stood in –the damn woman quite literally dragged me in, gave me a pat on the back, and took off– I saw my unwilling and unwanted target exchanging pleasantries with a pair of obnoxiously dressed men. From the looks of it, they were an unfortunate pair of Clocktower magi unaware of the amount of money the she-devil was about to squeeze out of them.

If they thought they could leave with happy wallets, they were wrong.

Good riddance. The more time she spent advertising her product, the more time _I _had to gather my wits.

I had to talk to her properly eventually, I knew that, but it was never going to be _easy_. If her insufferable personality wasn't bad enough, simply being _near _her had always lead to situations that snowballed into shitshows.

It said a lot about those situations that I've run into her more times as a Counter Guardian than over the course of my entire lived life.

…Short as it was.

Hm? She took out a briefcase.

…No, she was _given_ the briefcase. I'd be hard-pressed to believe it was a simple purchase payment; there was an enchantment on the container that prevented me from seeing what was inside with a simple structural analysis.

Suddenly, I had much less time to figure out how to broach my issues with her.

"Excuse me, Miss," I called, catching her attention and momentarily distracting her from the exchange. I could tell immediately that the pair wasn't happy with the delay. They seemed like they didn't want to be here any more than I did.

"Did you make these puppets yourself?" I asked, buying time as I tried to spot anything strange about the individuals.

Interrupting high-profile dealings was undoubtedly rude, and should never be done if one wanted to maintain some level of respect or dignity. Unfortunately for them, I'm a child. If they didn't want "rude", then Aozaki shouldn't have dragged me in here, to begin with.

The woman didn't seem to mind too much, despite her clients' contrasting reactions. She nodded with a smile. "Why, yes I did. Did one in particular catch your eye?"

Ah. So _that's _who these two were. I should've recognized them sooner.

I switched to a more aggressive approach. I had the high ground for now.

"Hn," I nodded, though I pointed at the briefcase. "But I think that jewel is even nicer."

Archis and Galliasta froze.

Aozaki put a hand on her hip, eyes blinking away a momentary flash of surprise, but not much else. "Oh?"

It wasn't too much of a stretch to figure out what was hidden in the container. While structural analysis failed to show me what the briefcase was hiding, it _did _tell me a little about the briefcase itself. It was a custom-made Gehrer brand container made to look like a regular attaché, designed specifically with the security of high-profile jewelry in mind.

If nothing else, my ramblings worked well to catch them off guard enough so that they wouldn't leave just yet. I still had questions for –

"This took a strange turn, I must say. How about we all reconvene in the backroom? We'll have a little more privacy there."

Aozaki's suggestion brought my schemes to a halt. She has a backroom? How does she have a backroom in a glorified cubicle!? I only approached them because I doubted they'd try anything with a kid in public. But in _private_? All bets were off with this woman.

"A splendid suggestion," commented Galliasta, a young man with tanned skin and short-cropped blond hair.

Archis, an unassuming though otherwise well dressed middle-aged man, had nothing to offer in terms of conversation, but he did eye me wearily. He was probably thinking of how to best dispose of me so that nothing could be revealed to the wrong people.

Not that I was worried about these two in any capacity.

I may be physically wanting, but my magecraft was particularly suited to defending myself from these types. It was a shame I wasn't practiced in using it in such a way.

I'd have to up my training.

I made one last ditch attempt to keep under daylight. "Uhm, Miss, is it really okay to leave your store on its own like this?"

She chuckled with a dismissive wave of her hand. "No need to worry. I have my able-bodied team keeping an eye out.

When she gestured to the men and women dressed in security uniforms near the walls, I knew instantly that they were puppets.

A lost cause, then.

I followed the three through a door hidden behind an awkwardly large pedestal. I could only lament how unfortunate it was that I missed such an obvious thing. I'd have to place more effort in following Kiritsugu's work habits, if for nothing other than to avoid repeating such a shameful display.

The room wasn't furnished in any capacity. It was nothing more than a grey box with suitcases and a few crates piled against the wall.

"Now," Aozaki started, removing her glasses as she faced us, "I'd like to be filled in on the details, personally. I thought this sale was supposed to be on-the-low?"

That settled any doubts of my conclusions having been too assumptive. This lady really _was _the buyer.

Figures.

"It is… or it _was_," muttered Archis.

Her stare, now lacking any of her previous joviality, made me feel much more uncomfortable. "Then what part do _you _have to play in all this, I wonder?"

It was clear that any advantage my apparent youth might have given me had been thrown out the window. A real shame, too, considering I might've been able to break up the deal without issue if they couldn't call me out away from the public eye.

I'd have to dig myself out of my own hole. I could practically hear Kiritsugu giving me crap already.

"I'm here for them," I answered honestly, pointing at the runaways. "They stole something important from the Clocktower's department of mineralogy. The Lord wants it back."

Nothing was said between the three. They were probably trying to figure out if the "child" calling them out was being serious, or if he was making a bad joke.

That's probably what _I _would think, were I in their shoes.

Breaking the silence, Galliasta laughed. "Come, now. There's nothing much that you can do here, now is there? Listen, boy, I don't know where you heard such a contrived tale, but you'd be better off–"

CRACK

Archis shot a simple but deadly lightning spell in my direction, interrupting his partner, almost catching me off guard.

"Almost" being the keyword.

I could _see. _I could _react. _A strangely proportioned sword was traced to defend me before the bolt made contact. It was too wide and too heavy to wield properly, but it served excellently as a shield while being traced with the same ease and speed as any other bladed weapon from my reality marble.

A tense silence swallowed us whole following the attack and subsequent reaction on my part.

I heard Archis speak. "If what you say is true, then you cannot be allowed to live. Meluastea must not find us."

Surprisingly –surprising _me, _at the very least– Aozaki stepped forward to lower the older man's hand. "Edor, I was willing to follow through with this purchase in good faith because you're an old friend. You told me not to ask questions, not to look into it, and that didn't even bother me all that much at the time despite my suspicions. Now, though, I'll need the full story."

…There was something more to this "request" than the Lord had bothered to tell us. What was a nagging thought moments before was now a certainty. From the sounds of things, the "buyer" wasn't exactly clued in on the details.

Edor Archis scrunched his face and lowered his head in resignation. "After I learned what Meluastea was planning, I couldn't leave Kischur's Jewel in his possession. I had to run; get rid of it. When you said it had caught your eye, Touko, I jumped on the opportunity. Please forgive me."

Her eyes widened. "I thought this was just an exceptional magical jewel! For it to be _Kischur's_ Jewel of all things…"

It was a name I'd heard before. Though the time and place escaped me, I could vaguely recall how some version of Rin described it. The prized possession of the mineralogy department: a jewel passed on by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg himself, cultivated by every standing Lord of Kischur until the present day.

That was… a lot of magical energy.

"Wait. This woman bought it without knowing what it was?"

Ah. I must have said that out loud.

Aozaki pouted. "What can I say? It spoke to me."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Hold on.

"You mentioned Meluastea was planning something," I brought the conversation back on track.

I didn't get an answer. Galliasta looked like he was about to give me one, but a quick look from his partner cut him off.

Luckily for me, Aozaki wasn't having it. "Edor."

He didn't answer her right away. He asked me something first. "Lad, how much do you know about the Lord of Kischur?"

I didn't know why he was asking, nor why he thought he could believe anything that would come out of my mouth, but I humoured him. "Not much. He's new, so he doesn't want anyone finding out that he let a faculty treasure get swiped from under his nose. He wants all evidence of this mishap gone."

As expected, Galliasta didn't look convinced. "What are you, seven? Eight? A Lord who hires a _child _to clean up his mistakes is a desperate Lord indeed."

Despite knowing that I was under Meluastea's employ and the sword I conjured right in front of them, they were still underestimating me because of my age.

Good.

A shiver ran down my spine, I traced the feeling to find Aozaki's piercing glare at its source.

How lamentable. The dangerous one was still cautious.

She looked me in the eye.

I looked right back.

Without breaking eye contact, the lone woman urged her "old friend" to continue.

"_Edor._"

He sighed. "If that's really all he knows, then it can't be helped, though I say we dispose of him either way before I reveal anything… sensitive."

"Try it," I urged, barely able to keep the amusement out of my voice as my circuits hummed to life. Did I find Aozaki terrifying? A little. Did I think that anyone in this room posed a serious threat to me despite my handicap? Not at all. I'd find it difficult to _kill _her, to _fight _her even, but she would find that went both ways.

"Don't."

Again, it was Aozaki that put a stop to the feud before it could begin. The woman wasn't _always _a creature set on providing me with my own special batch of misery, it would seem.

"Are you sure?" the middle-aged man asked her reticently, and I couldn't help but mirror the thought. From their perspective, I was nothing but a mistake waiting to bite them in the ass if they didn't get rid of me.

"You two might find it a little more difficult to off the kid than you think."

I didn't know where Aozaki found these conclusions she was jumping to, but I didn't like that she did.

Her gaze hadn't once lost mine.

"From the beginning, Edor."

From the sound of it, she wasn't going to ask again.

It was Galliasta that took hold of the conversation. "You know how the faculty heads of mineralogy and archeology are brothers? Well as it would turn out, they don't get along all that well. The Lord of Astaire, who just so happened to be overseeing the project I was working on at the time, said that a few… _favours _could be owed were I to dig something up to incriminate the Lord of Kischur."

Judging by the twitch in Aozaki's brow, she didn't look too impressed with them. "So you stole Kischur's Jewel?"

Archis shook his head. "It's not quite that simple."

Galliasta continued. "Naturally, the first place I looked for was his workshop. Thanks to their familial connection, I was given access to certain _unmentionable_ resources that allowed me entry."

"A Lord's workshop. You broke into a _Lord's workshop _for a favour."

As aloof as I knew this woman to be, she still had enough brain cells pinched together to know how ludicrous of a statement that was. As a spectator, I was inclined to agree.

Archis cut in. "That's where he found _me_."

Aozaki's cigarette was nearing its end, though she didn't make a move to reach for a new one. She was caught flatfooted, it would seem. "You? In the workshop?"

"He'd taken me captive shortly after his appointment, along with many other magi from other departments. Loathe as I am to admit it, I was likely a target due to my lack of connections within the institution that would notice my disappearance. The Lord of Kischur has been experimenting with using jewelcraft to further apostle research."

…I couldn't say that I expected _this _turn of events. Apostle research? Seriously? The man had been trying to perfect was basically amounted to zombie vampires –one of the few things the Mage's Association _didn't _let people do– and he _still _managed to land one of the elite roles within the institution?

Aozaki looked like she didn't know what to say, for once. "Edor…"

The older man's grip on the magical container tightened. "We were chained like animals. Knowing we were all going to die one way or another, he was free to subject us to his musings. He was on the verge of a breakthrough; all he needed was a container with enough power to supply his next attempt."

"Kischur's Jewel," inferred his old friend.

"It wouldn't surprise me if that was his actual goal when he vied for the open position in mineralogy: access to one of the most powerful yet protected resources known to jewelcraft."

The woman groaned. It was the closest thing to agitation I've ever heard from her. "Why go on the run, then? Why not just bring this up with Policies?"

"What would _they _do?" Galliasta scoffed. "We had no tangible proof, and we would be long dead by the time an investigation could be conducted within a Lord's workshop– assuming they'd bother."

True. The politics of the Clock Tower were strict, as fickle as they were. A workshop –a mage's most personal sanctum– could not often be forced into through legal streams under even the most dire of circumstances. The workshop of someone with the political sway of a Lord? Never.

I couldn't help myself. "Why apostles? And with jewelcraft? What could he possibly gain from this?"

"You're a mage, aren't you boy?" Archis asked me condescendingly. "What else? To find a path to the root; the knowledge of all things. It is accepted that the closer one gets to immortality the better their chances of achieving that goal, and sacrificing one's humanity is the most obvious way to do so. Why he needs so much power all at once, as offered by the jewel? I could only guess."

Hah. I took back whatever positive thoughts I had for Aozaki as they were clearly misplaced. Another encounter, another mess.

Shit. I had to go tell Kiritsugu now, didn't I? We were about to give this thing back to an individual so incommodious as to kidnap other magi for forbidden experimentation.

But first…

"Aozaki. How long do you plan on staying here?"

She was a nomad in every sense of the word. If she took off on me right now, then my arguments and efforts up until now were moot.

She sighed. "Truthfully? I thought I was gone the moment these two handed over my new piece of jewelry. I can't say I fully believe that to be an option anymore, though."

Good.

"If I can't bring the jewel back with me, then there are some loose ends that need tying up. I'll be back here tomorrow morning."

As I stepped back towards the closed door, I could see both Galliasta and Archis making a move to stop me. It was Aozaki that forced them to hold their ground.

"No, let him go. He'll be back."

"And how can you be so sure?" demanded the senior member of the Rocks Road college.

"He'll be back," she repeated.

I didn't like the way she was looking at me.

X

"I'm sorry, care to run that by me one more time?"

As I thought, Kiritsugu wasn't too happy with the news. Tch. As if it's _my _fault we were hired by an idiot. If you asked me, the old man should've done a better job of choosing our travel service provider.

Not much we could do about that now.

I repeated, "Lord Meluastea wants Kischur's Jewel for himself. He plans on using all of its power for one big apostle-birthing mess."

As it would turn out, despite the weight of current circumstances, I was petty and vindictive enough to relish the fact that the man didn't look like he had everything figured out for once.

"And the _Red _told you this, of all people."

I pushed past the discomfort I felt when he spoke of that moniker in order to correct him. "No, it was the two we were chasing, Alcmene Galliasta and Edor Archis. Aozaki was just the buyer; she didn't know the details either."

He rubbed his brow. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble?"

I waved my arms. "And I didn't _get_ in trouble, did I?"

What he _actually _told me to do was to come to him if anything happened. I didn't correct him due to a fifty-fifty split in logic that I both had to act before the opportunity escaped me _and _I couldn't be bothered to go all the way back to the hotel.

He… almost laughed. It was more of a snort. "They just let you go because you told them you'd be back tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "No, Aozaki did. They just went with it. From what I could gather, Archis and Aozaki were colleagues at some point in time."

"Then we know how they got in touch with her," he gathered.

All in all, he took all of that pretty well. Now we just had to pack our bags, wake Sakura, and–

"What time are we meeting them?"

"…What? We're actually going?"

I wasn't the same idiot I used to be, and this whole situation was more effort than it was worth. Dead apostles? Aozaki? There was already very little motive for me to go along with this whole thing, to begin with. Now? Forget it. I was absolutely serious about not knowing why that woman thought that she could trust me to come back because I hadn't ever planned on it to begin with.

Were people –innocent people– going to die as a result of my inaction? I would assume so, but I wouldn't allow myself to care about that. I had other priorities.

So why… why did she look at me like that? What did she know that I didn't?

To my dismay, my adoptive father read me like a book. "We can't just back out now. This isn't even about life, death, _or _morals anymore. If the Clock Tower finds out that Lord Meluastea has been conducting apostle research and we kept quiet about it, we'll be labeled as accomplices. Enforcers will be on our case faster than you can blink."

I wanted to ask how he figured the Clock Tower would find out, but the words sounded empty even to me. I didn't know the extent of Meluastea's abilities and influence, but I couldn't imagine they would stack up to those of a Grand Color who reached her rank by the age of twenty. She would lay him flat if she had to, and all his little secrets would be cracked open for the world to see.

Being wanted by the Clocktower was counterproductive no matter how you split it.

I sighed. "Fair. We can take our time, though. I can't imagine that slovenly woman operating a business through the waking hours of a day."

"I didn't know you had such strong feelings about the Red," he noted.

Laughing dryly, I shot back, "I feel a strong _something_, for sure."

He didn't know the half of it.

X

Kiritsugu and I made it to the pop-up gallery around nine-thirty the next day after making sure that Sakura had everything she needed back at the hotel. We let ourselves in, ignoring the giant "CLOSED" sign that hung on the door.

The interior was different from what I remembered. All the displays were pushed to the far corners, while a set of chairs _that I knew she didn't have yesterday _were grouped in a circle near the center of the room.

Noticing our arrival, Aozaki stared me down smugly while the pair of runaways looked at the person accompanying me with faces as white as sheets.

"Magus Killer…" mumbled Archis disbelievingly. Only Galliasta, who shared his sentiments, paid him any mind.

"You came," remarked Aozaki needlessly.

I looked away. "I said I would, didn't I?

Infuriatingly, her smile grew wider. "Alright then!"

It was once everyone had taken a seat in front of her that the woman stood up and lit a cigarette. Due to my young and inexperienced body, I had to make a conscious effort to stop myself from pinching my nose.

It was truly a god-awful smell.

"Be thankful Edor, I'll clean up your mess for you, though I'll also keep Kischur's Jewel as payment."

Galliasta made a move to speak, but Archis got his words out first. "That's fine. We're already fugitives, so it's not like we have any right to speak on the Clock Tower's behalf."

She planned on stepping in herself? That made things easier for us, but then why bother having me come back in the first place? Was she messing with me? I'd never put it past her.

I got my answer shortly as she finished, "I would hate to have those miserly academics breathing down my neck any more than they already are, however. I'm afraid that any further efforts required of me would have to be outsourced lest I take too much unwanted credit."

No time was lost figuring out who the lucky hired hands would be.

"And what would _we _gain from helping you?" I tried, though I didn't doubt for a moment that she knew just as well as we did how the Clock Tower's reports could paint our image if we denied her request. I wouldn't let her force a charity service out of us if I could help it.

She twirled locks of her hair between her fingers as she hummed. "Edor, how much was I going to pay you again?"

"Seven million swiss francs."

I balked at the number. She just had that much lying around? _And she was going to blow it all on some random jewel?_

"Mm... Then a portion of that, maybe? Let's say, five grand for your services."

My eyebrow twitched, though I tried to keep a straight face. _This stingy woman!_

"No deal," Kiritsugu denied before I could.

"Oh? No good?" she tilted her head at us, eyes widened innocently behind her glasses. "Then how about a favour?"

The old man looked like he was about to pass on that too, so I jumped on it before he could.

"Deal."


	9. Chapter 9

(A/N) Hello everyone! We meet again, which means I haven't yet succumbed to my own laziness.

I'll start with a short notice that I'll be placing on all of my upcoming updates: I've put a list of stories that I _really _want to work on (but won't be able to right now due to time constraints) on my profile, along with why I would or wouldn't be inclined to go through with writing the fic from a more objective standpoint. I've also opened a poll where everyone can vote on which story they're most inclined to see started if either I finish an ongoing one or I magically find a couple extra hours in a day. If that sounds like something you'd like to influence, be my guest!

Originally, the chap wasn't due for an update for another couple days yet (not that I'm responsible enough to set hard deadlines for myself lmao) but the E.N.D chapter was sitting a little longer than I'd hoped. This one's out early, but E.N.D will be updated next as soon as my brain starts to work again.

Not much else to say here, but there'll be a _lot _more to say in the A/N next chapter lol.

Or, probably at least. I suck at predicting reader responses.

Enjoy!

P.S., shoutout to the kind reviewer that pointed out a currency flub from the chapter before last. I meant to point it out last time, but it slipped my mind.

P.S.S., If I ever write something terribly erroneous that makes you go "Wait no that's not right," do not hesitate to let me know. I'm perfectly aware that I have the brainpower of a housefly, and I'll fix what I can.

X

I pretended not to notice Kiritsugu's glare boring into the side of my head. It wasn't _my _fault that the man wasn't able to capitalize on a golden opportunity shoved in front of his face on a silver platter.

Not that many could see the opportunity for what it was. A great majority of the time, "I'll owe you one" was nothing more than a half-assed and empty promise used by those who didn't have a great deal to offer in recompense in the first place.

For someone used to dealing with the Clocktower, it was practically worthless. Why bother with a favour –something so immaterial and unquantifiable– when you could have a predetermined exchange where both parties knew _exactly _what they're getting out of it? Besides, considering how willing magi were to screw over others, it'd be a miracle if a favour was delivered on at all.

But this was Aozaki.

It wasn't even a matter of knowing that she, for all her faults, would probably make good on her promise. It was the _extent _of what could be asked of her by virtue of her own competences.

Her terribly _convenient _competences.

Ironically, this particular "I'll owe you" could get me far more than what either Kiritsugu or I could afford otherwise.

On her part, the woman seemed about as surprised as my father by the quick response. I would suppose that few that were even remotely familiar with her mannerisms would take anything she said so whimsically at face value. "…Alright then. We'll meet you back here when you two gentlemen have everything wrapped up."

"One more thing," I interjected before Kiritsugu could drag me out the door and nag me into the ground. All movement around me stopped. "I'm going to tell you _exactly _what we're going to ask of you when we get back. This whole ordeal is going to be a right pain in the ass, and we need to know that your 'favour' will be worth the effort.

As much as I was playing up my expectations, I wasn't about to assume that Aozaki would part with what I wanted so readily. I let her know how big of a task she offloaded onto us, so I'd have to hope it would be enough of a push for her to see things my way.

Both Galliasta and Archis looked a little disturbed by my colourful language coming from the body of a seven-year-old, but this lady wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Have something in mind already, do you? Alright, then. What's it gonna be, kid?"

"Two bodies; exact replicas of the originals. They need to accommodate the full consciousness and functionality of the genuine vessel without problems for the length of a human lifespan."

She blew me off instantly. "Even for me, something like that isn't possible. Sorry. My own field of magecraft has not yet progressed to the point where it can reproduce 'true humanity' without blemish, if that's really what you think you need."

She looked me dead in the eyes when she said it, too. What a frightening woman.

"I don't believe you."

"…"

"…"

She laughed it off. "I don't know what to tell you. There really isn't anything I can do, here. I get that you're disappointed, but maybe we can work out–"

"Sounds like horseshit to me."

I didn't bother letting her finish. She was currently the only approachable living creature that I could think of that had the means to give me what I wanted– what I _needed_. If I had to annoy her until she was driven to chose between honesty and offing me so I'd shut up., I would do so.

Her smile was strained. "This is a big deal, I understand. How about–"

"Two bodies."

"…"

I knew that Aozaki lost her patience with me the moment she talked to my old man right over my head. "Mister Emiya, wouldn't you consider–"

"How about you give us what I asked for in the first place?"

"Brat." She didn't _sound _angry per se, but her utter lack of positive inflection told me that she was _very _close to snapping– an Aozaki trademark catastrophe waiting to happen.

Kiritsugu had as good a poker face as any. I couldn't begin to guess what was going through his head, but he seemed content to let my devolving discussion with the irritated Grand Color go on.

I couldn't say I was pleased with the said discussion, though. Why was she being so difficult? Why was she so insistent on not being able to do something I _knew _she was capable of?

I became much more aware of the other two magi in the room, all of a sudden.

She didn't want anyone to know then. Would it make a difference, though? She was already a sealing designee.

"…Would you mind if we talked alone, for a moment?"

I couldn't say if it was because my childlike visage making her lower her guard –which I doubted– or her being confident in her ability to kill me easily –much more likely– but she seemed to be willing to hear me out.

"I don't understand what you think you'll get out of me, but if it'll get you off my back, then sure."

She was a devil-may-care type of person by nature, but rarely a flippant one. If I could afford to be a more hopeful individual, I'd risk to wager that she was trying to mask curiosity with disinterest.

She walked into the same backroom as the other day, not bothering to check if I was following her.

She didn't have to, I guess. Follow her I did.

I'd feel bad about leaving Kiritsugu with the other two, especially since I kind of forced him into this mess to begin with, but the two runaways looked more uncomfortable being stuck in the same room as the Magus Killer than the other way around.

X

"You seem awfully sure that I can build a fully functional human vessel. Why."

It wasn't phrased as "Why do you think that?" so much as "Tell me why before I have one of my nightmare-fueling abominations jump out from under your bed and eat you." It was kind of nice that she gave a fair warning instead of gunning straight for the follow-through. A much-welcomed change of pace. How novel.

"You seem awfully set on telling me that you can't. Why?" I shot right back.

She took off her glasses, hung them by the loosened collar of her shirt and rubbed her brow tiredly. "I kind of had a feeling by now... but for a short-stack, you really are an unbearable little shit. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Were it to happen any more frequently, it would be perpetual. "Once or twice."

"Because you are. You really, really are."

"So you've said."

Neither of us spoke for a good few seconds, which gave me the time to acknowledge that I willingly stepped foot in a room that would trap me alone with The Red. My self-imposed goals were really starting to make do some unreasonable things. I would have to chalk it up to necessity for now and worry about my sanity at a later juncture.

She took a deep breath. "How about this: you tell me where you heard about the bodies, and I might be inclined to cooperate."

I had to remind myself that _she _was the one who was going to return favours and not the other way around. I needed to be more careful around this conniver lest she successfully manipulates her debits.

"We've been looking for someone to solve a problem of ours for a while now, so Kiritsugu rummaged through his bag of contacts until a little bird chirped that you were our 'solution'."

She didn't sound convinced. "The Clocktower had me designated for sealing the moment they _thought _I could achieve an artificial state of human equivalence with my puppets. Even then, they still think it's a work in progress. Who might this 'little bird' be?"

So that she could lay it six feet under went unsaid.

"I don't know, and neither does Kiritsugu," I answered honestly. "Please understand that anonymity is of utmost importance to some of those contacts. We can get information, but who they are is beyond us."

That sounded like it could be true, right? I wouldn't know, because I made all of it up.

As often as the Counter Force ran into Aozaki Touko, I had to kill her every now and then, too. The real reason I knew that she had crafted a perfect human vessel was that I normally had to kill her _multiple times _if I could expect her to stay dead. Seeing an exact copy of the woman pop up right after labouring to execute her didn't get old, nor did it become any less infuriating.

"This was a setup, then. You were after me from the beginning."

I shook my head. "It's no coincidence that we know who you are and what you can do, but it _is _one that we encountered you under these circumstances. We're just trying to seize our opportunity now that it's here."

She reached for another cigarette, frowning when she found an empty box. Secretly, I rejoiced over the mercy shown for my nose and lungs.

I barely caught her sotto voce cursing of names I didn't know. "Either way, none of that matters. I've made the bodies before, but they've never been _used_– they're untested."

So she had yet to pop her 'puppet body cherry' at this point in time. Whether it was reluctance to face failure or simply not having the resources to proceed further, I didn't know nor care. I knew that it would work by virtue of having _seen _it work, so that's all I needed. "That's fine."

She stared me down. "What do you need these bodies for, anyway?"

"Two individuals around my age. If they're left as they are, they won't last for much longer," I answered without giving too many details. The less Aozaki knew about my personal life, the better.

"I don't think you understand the risks, here. If it doesn't go as planned, they die."

And it was a risk that I would be much more reluctant to take under different circumstances. As it stood, it was a forgone conclusion that it would work in my mind. "Then it works out for you, doesn't it? You'll rid yourself of your future debt to me and receive proof of concept for your work at the same time."

Her impassive frown flipped into a nauseating smile. "Awfully nice when you make it sound like I'm the one benefiting the most here, isn't it? Might you have any idea how much it would cost me to make a single one of those bodies?"

No, actually, I didn't.

"The raw materials are worth a 'Kischur's Jewel' onto their own," she informed me.

Ah. That _was _a lot. What a pain. I would have to do my best to bring the odds back into my favour. "It isn't just Kischur's Jewel that's at stake here. Since a Lord is involved, one screwup would be enough for the Observatory to treat you as a Philosopher, rather than a Hermit."

It would be a lie to say that I was familiar with any of the Mage's Association's institutions on even an _average _level, but the Kalion Observatory could almost be called an exception to that rule. As the "central body" for the Enforcers, their types would show up once in a while whenever Alaya threw a hissy fit. Whether I worked with or against them was always a tossup, but they could be trusted to be _there_. They weren't first responders or anything of the sort, though you wouldn't know that for all the messes they were forced to clean up.

With my familiarity came a basic understanding of some of the terms they employed. Chief among them were the codewords "Hermit" and "Philosopher", which weren't as self-explanatory as they seemed. "Hermit" was how Aozaki was perfectly happy to be categorized, since it meant that the Observatory was confident enough that she'd keep to herself; they wouldn't waste resources hunting her down.

"Philosopher" was basically the equivalent of "priority target". It insinuated that the sealing designee was liable to cause problems for the association in order to further their own goals. Going against a Lord would be enough of a transgression for Aozaki to get the "upgrade".

It was an upgrade that no one wanted.

"Yes. Which is why _you're_ doing this, not me."

Tch.

She laughed at my– no, it wasn't a pout. It was frown. A completely normal way for any man to express his dismay.

It was unfortunate, but I might have to accept that I wouldn't get everything I wanted right here and now. It was time to scrape up what I could.

"How about one body for now, then," I bargained. "You might not value our help, but it's something you'll need either way. We can work out something else for the other body another time."

For now, Sakura was the priority. We still hadn't made contact with Illya yet, and her modified homunculus body would hold strong for another few years.

"Works with me," she agreed easily, as if she hadn't lead me by the nose the whole time. "…Oh."

I could practically see the gears turning in her head as she froze. She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I can't seem to remember… what's your name again?"

You never asked. How rude.

"Emiya Shirou."

For however long it was that I refused to have any relation to that name, it was bemusing to have to refer to myself as such so openly.

"So you really are his son, then."

"I suppose," was the best answer I could come up with. In a sense, I was, just as in others I wasn't.

"Hn!" she patted me on the head before I could react, then Aozaki unhooked her glasses and made her way back to the main room. "I'll be waiting, Shirou-kun."

I shivered. How regretful that she learned my name. The sound of it leaving her lips was chilling.

X

"Can she really do that? Can Aozaki Touko really save Illya?"

I nodded, albeit reluctantly. "She won't give us both bodies for only this much, though. I told her that we could make other arrangements once we've finished cleaning up the mess with Meluastea."

His lips thinned. He was fighting an internal struggle, and I knew immediately what it was.

"Sakura needs a body first, old man."

"I know."

"We'll save Illya soon."

"…I know."

After that, we were quiet the whole way back to the hotel. It took longer than usual since we took public transit rather than the car to avoid any attention from being drawn to us.

Kiritsugu unlocked the door, and we stepped in.

"Ah. Welcome back," greeted Sakura. Her tone was tepid at best, but by far an improvement from how she was when she last saw the old worm.

I ruffled her hair in what was becoming a customary practice for me. She didn't seem to mind, so it was fine, right? Sorry Sakura, please excuse this one's bad habits.

"It's good to be back. Were you alright on your own?"

"Yes."

"What have you been up to?"

"Waiting."

Lamentably, there was still much progress to be made.

The old man went to grab the suitcases that we hadn't bothered to unpack. "We're done here. We'll head back to Frankfurt right away, so let's pack things up."

I lost myself in thought. Assuming we were successful in our efforts to keep the two girls alive, what would become of the Grail War? I wasn't optimistic enough to think that purging the two Lesser Grails would be enough of a wrench in the plans of the two remaining founding families to put a full stop to it then and there. Delay it, maybe, but another Lesser Grail would take their place somehow.

An unknown factor.

Zouken was only one man– a shell of one, at that. He wasn't the issue here.

The Einzbern family was the problem. They might've burned bridges with the Association, but that didn't mean that they've left themselves vulnerable. They were organized, numerous, and most assuredly dangerous.

How much of a hassle would it be to wipe them out?

…More than I could currently handle. They weren't fighters –most magi weren't– but power outweighed specialization in this case.

I'd have to bide my time, then. When we go for Illya, I'll re-evaluate my chances and see if I can handle the extra burden. If not, I'll go back on my own some other time.

"Let's go, Shirou."

"Sorry," I apologized, grabbing what was left and joined the other two near the car.

Worries for another time. For now, let's hunt a Lord.

X

Meluastea's German estate was close enough to what I expected. It was in the middle of nowhere, ostentatiously decorated, and was the size of a horse farm.

Of course, I already knew that since we took a nice long look at it before now.

We picked up some clothes in the city before coming here– Kiritsugu said it was important to keep a good image in front of an employer. Not that I knew why that was relevant in this instance since we were about to do something very un-employee-like, but I didn't find it worth the effort to argue.

I decided then and there to never let the old man buy me clothes ever again. While he dressed the part of a stereotypical hitman, trench coat and all, I was stuck looking like a grade-schooler fresh out of private school.

Seriously, what the hell? When did I say I was fine with this? Pleated shorts? A cashmere sweater? _Knee socks_?

Nonetheless, it took a backseat to the nervousness I felt knowing that Sakura was with us.

She looked every bit the preppy tyke I did, only with a long skirt instead of pants. Unlike me, she let Kiritsugu comb her hair up into a ponytail.

I had to remind myself that the man raised a daughter before he met me.

_Maintaining appearances will be important. If we leave Sakura behind, the target might find it suspect and raise his guard more than he would otherwise. We won't be engaging him directly if we do everything properly, so it shouldn't be an issue. Other than that, try not to act strangely._

I knew the plan, but that didn't mean I was looking forward to it. The old man assured me this was the easiest way, but I'd much rather bomb the place from a distance.

If only I had the arm strength to use my bow…

A pair or strangely-dressed maids met us at the gate. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary from the shoulders down –though the French maid outfit was a bit outdated– but their entire heads were covered by white veils. It must have been thin enough for them to see, but their faces weren't visible beyond the faintest shadows.

_Meluastea doesn't have any known contacts in Germany. Hope for him to be on his own, but don't expect it._

Hired help. Though it meant he wasn't technically alone in the estate, it wasn't as big of an issue as it would have been had other magi been present.

Assuming there was a workshop here, it was highly unlikely that the Lord would employ people who were knowledgeable of the moonlit world to look after the place unsupervised for any extent of time. It would be the equivalent of a pirate asking another pirate to look after his treasure. Not gonna happen unless you _want _the other guy to steal it.

"We're here to see Lord Meluastea," Kiritsugu told them.

They didn't miss a beat. The odd maids bowed and pushed the gates open for us to go through.

Easy enough so far.

We didn't even make it to the front steps before the door opened and Meluastea came out. "Emiya! Good to see you back so soon! I felt you arrive through the bounded field. Did everything go well? Where's the jewel?"

My old man slipped right into a lie. "As an extra precaution, we didn't come with it directly. We have to assume that there's always a chance that the security of our channels has been compromised, so to avoid any potential third parties intercepting us we had it shipped through a mundane carrier service. We're here to wait with you to make sure it gets here in one piece."

The Lord's expression cycled through a myriad of emotions including rage, fear, confusion, and finally understanding. "I… see. Your line of work is certainly of the convoluted sort. I don't envy you at all. Nonetheless, good thinking. It would seem that hiring a professional was the right choice."

I would have _loved _to see how he'd go about asking the Red to give back her brand new seven million franc rock. He didn't seem like the type that was able to handle her.

"It shouldn't be too much longer," Kiritsugu added for good measure. "A half-hour at the most."

_Move quickly, but be sure not to make any careless mistakes. Time won't be on our side._

"Of course, Emiya. Would you like to join me for tea while we wait? It wouldn't do for me to be inhospitable."

"If you wouldn't mind."

We made it into the edifice proper without issue. That's one thing out of the way.

Kiritsugu engaged the other man in some sort of meaningless discussion that I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to.

That was my cue, then.

X

"Haha!" Meluastea laughed boisterously, twirling his moustache around his finger. His cup of tea had probably long since cooled on the glass table between us. A shame too, since the brew wasn't all too bad.

Sakura and I sat on either side of Kiritsugu, nursing our own cups between our small fingers. The Lord of Kischur probably didn't see us as anything more than tagalongs, but he respected the Magus Killer enough to provide for us as well.

How considerate. I would almost feel bad for what was about to happen.

BOOM

The head of the mineralogy department clutched onto the side of his loveseat in surprise as his estate shook.

"What was that!" he yelled.

"We're probably under attack," suggested Kiritsugu easily. "Shirou, go see what's going on, but don't engage the target if it's not immediately necessary."

I awaited Meluastea's reaction.

"An attack? Who would dare– will the boy be enough?"

"He can handle himself."

It took all my willpower to not shake my head at how easy it was to fool the man. Then again, what reason was there to suspect we were lying if he wasn't suspicious of us, to begin with? We didn't have the Jewel, but we openly left ourselves to his mercy until it arrived; he couldn't know that I planted bombs at his manor's entrance since they detonated remotely and were entirely mundane and undetectable by most magecraft. Beyond that, it really was much simpler to assume that someone else was after the Clocktower Lord than it was to believe that someone he was conversing with over a cup of tea somehow pulled a fast one somewhere else entirely from where he sat.

Maybe if he was given more time to gather his thoughts, the two occurrences put together might have been more alarming. The key here was that Kiritsugu was subtly forcing split-second decisions on his part by staying on the front foot of the conversation. The Lord might have _felt _relaxed, but in reality, he wasn't being given a moment to breathe.

When Kiritsugu explained that train of thought to me before we came, I was skeptical that he could predict the man's mannerisms so precisely. Now, I could only appreciate knowing exactly why Emiya Kiritsugu was so dangerous as to be called "The Magus Killer".

The old man liked to say it was because he was willing to employ modern technologies on the job. I'd say that it had more to do with the fact that the way he thought was simply _abnormal_.

Not that I was one to judge.

"I'll be right back," I told them, marching off. Rather than towards the entrance, I headed deeper into the building.

_When you manage to get away, look for anything that would indicate any sort of illegal or otherwise forbidden activities that Meluastea might be involved in. The more we find now, the easier we'll make our lives once we have to bring this quandary back to London._

That was right. If I could find a workshop, I'd have to do it now before we blew the place sky-high.

I stopped.

The maids stood motionless across the hall, blocking my path. A freak gust of wind blew their veils up for just a moment before they settled.

That one moment was enough for me to see something that threw our entire plan out the door.

Porcelain skin, snow-white hair, and red eyes.

Einzbern homunculi.


	10. Chapter 10

(A/N) Aaaaaand I apologize for the delay. Wow. I'm sure no one wants to see a shorter chapter after a month or so away, but _yikes _I've been busy. A great part of that has to do with the webtoon I've started. Huge credit to all graphic novelists, btw. In case it hasn't sunk in, most of them have to publish weekly, where each individual panel is a full-blown artwork that they have to draw and (in the case of webtoons) colour. Them be many hours.

That said, that's not the only reason this bad boy *slaps webpage* got cut short. We're moving into a biggie, and I don't want to start or end the next bit awkwardly.

Now since it's been a minute, I'll address some interesting points brought up in the reviews. Will this work of fiction be entirely dedicated to a seven-year-old Shirou? No, is the short answer. We've got a bit to go until the "prologue" of the story is finished though, so no time skips yet.

Yes. The prologue. Kind of.

Aaaanyway.

We haven't seen the last of Zouken, before anyone gets any funny ideas. Just because we don't see him, doesn't mean that nothing's happening. No Schrodinger's worm here, fellas.

Actually, that's a fair point that I might as well cement in black and white right now. This story is written from Shirou's perspective, so we only know what he knows. Shit could be falling from the sky, and we wouldn't know that unless Shirou decides to look up. In fact, expect some proverbial "shit" by the end of the chapter.

I'm _positive _that I've forgotten to mention something, but oh well.

Please enjoy!

X

They didn't move, so neither did I. I met their blank stares with my own nervous one, though I tried my best to mask my distress.

It was less than a glimpse, but I knew without a doubt what I saw. That the Einzbern family had a presence here –a base of operations of such a Lord– was a bad omen, to say the least.

Not because he was morally bankrupt –he wasn't more so than any other magus– but because he was stupid enough to think that he could get away with apostle research. _Stupid_ meant the Einzbern were using him to certain lengths.

I would have to find out what those lengths were if I have had any intention of keeping us out of trouble.

"You may not advance past this point. It has been restricted by the Lord Meluastea," droned one of the maids.

…I was in luck, and not just because they had unknowingly told me that I'd found the workshop.

I had been intercepted, but not for the reason I had originally surmised. They weren't interested in the explosion that had gone off in front of the estate– if they were, they've set aside that interest to stop an intruder from entering the workshop.

Homunculi were close to humans, but some were further along than others. The fact that I wasn't being attacked immediately enforced my current theory that these two weren't as autonomous as some of their brethren.

These two could be more closely compared to machines. In the current instance, they're confronted with two issues: there has been an attack, and someone is trying to force entry into the house master's magical lair. It was probable that they didn't have the faculties to relate the two issues, and so they moved to act on the matter deemed the most critical.

As any good magus would agree, the invasion of a workshop was leagues more severe than the destruction and assault of a home residence.

Still, that raised issues onto its own. If these homunculi were little better than sophisticated puppets, then there was little chance that they were the ones in charge of manipulating the Lord. It was much more likely that they were some sort of gift in exchange for a higher favour.

I would have to think about the matter later, though. For now, I had to unentangle myself.

"I'm looking for the entrance," I told them.

"We heard an explosion, so I was sent to investigate… I got lost," I quickly added for good measure.

They nodded along easily enough.

"Follow," ordered the one on the left. My muscled tightened as they walked towards me, and loosened once they continued walking right past. They would lead the way, then.

My muscles tensed once more.

The familiar "squelch" of pierced innards sounded behind me.

Calmly, I turned around. The two homunculi dropped to the ground, dead, with a pair of identical swords lodged in their backs. The weapons were large things, and cleaved through their spines easily.

They didn't even survive long enough to bleed out. If nothing else, they didn't suffer for long.

I spared them little more than a second glance as I pushed forward once more. It was regretful that I had to do that, but time was of the essence.

Meluastea wasn't getting out of this scot-free one way or another, so the Einzbern family would be alerted whether I disposed of their present forces or not. Discretion didn't matter anymore.

…I could smell it.

There was a bounded field nearby. It was stronger than any other ward in the estate. If Meluastea put half as much effort into protecting the home itself, maybe we wouldn't have been able to shut him down so easily.

Found it.

A series of small runes were etched into a pattern on the wood at the foot of a doorway. It would be easily missed by most people.

I didn't know what it did, nor did I care. With the right tools, something like this wouldn't impede me at all.

I traced a strange dagger. While the drain it placed on my reserves to do so was entirely disproportionate to its size and general utility as an _actual_ dagger, its magical properties more or less made up for it.

Rulebreaker was a _very _useful Noble Phantasm.

All it took was a small scratch, and the runes became little more than property damage on a doorframe. Not sensing any other active magecraft, I entered the once-protected room.

It was empty, save for a conspicuous staircase in the middle of the space. It led straight down.

I rubbed the back of my neck. I would suppose that Meluastea was a fan of underground lairs.

It was a long way down, to my surprise. Same as the limousine, the house itself went deeper into the ground than any regular basement would.

Once I finally made it to the bottom, I heard my teeth clack shut more than I felt it.

I couldn't call this a torture chamber, because a torture chamber would never look so sickeningly _clinical_.

There was the odd human, but the vast majority of the victims here were the same brand of homunculus at the ones that I had dealt with a moment earlier. Most were dead –all the humans were– but some were still alive, staring at me despite wounds that should have been lethal thrice over.

Their gazes looked more curious than agonized. As if I had encountered them at a supermarket rather than in a basement with their limbs removed from their bodies.

A second glance told me that wasn't entirely true.

All their stares felt different. Some were empty, some were uncaring, and some despaired. Their builds were contrasting in much the same way, resembling anything between a cheaply-made doll to a perfect replica of a human being, be it a woman, man, elder, or child. Surely, things invisible to the naked eye such as magical capacity was also a variable of interest.

Fitting. "Variety" was the first word that came to mind.

It was clear to me now that the Einzbern family had provided resources of their own.

I ignored the captives for the time being and began to search for any kind of notes or physical document that we could bring back to the Clock Tower with us. It took little time or effort, thankfully, as there were papers strewn about carelessly in every which way.

Truthfully, I was a little disappointed that an established organization such as the Clock Tower would give such a disorderly individual a position of power. Family ties and old blood went a long way, I could only suppose.

One document, in particular, caught my eye more than the others. It was a letter addressed to the Einzbern family, though evidently he had yet to find time to send it.

I read it.

"…"

I left the workshop without sparing those trapped here another look.

X

"What is the situation, boy?" Meluastea demanded the moment I stepped into his line of sight. He tried to sound imposing, but worry was thick in his voice.

"Intruders," I answered. "They've been dealt with and left in the–"

The Lord's head popped like a watermelon and he fell dead at my feet. I had to take a quick step to the side to avoid getting sprayed by his life fluids.

The fallen frame revealed Kiritsugu standing with the smoking barrel of a gun pointed forwards.

"I'm running out of those," he muttered more to himself than anyone else in the room.

I nudged the deceased man with my foot, idly taking not of the runes flickering on his vest before they died out. If the vest was supposed to act as a defensive Mystic Code, it didn't matter now. He was as dead as a doorknob.

I'd say the whole ordeal was anticlimactic, but "climactic" didn't really seem to be the old man's style.

_When you return, you'll announce what you supposedly discovered. Keep two phrases in mind. "Invaders" will mean that you couldn't find anything incriminating beyond all reasonable doubt, and so we'll have to restrain Meluastea to bring him in for questioning. "Intruders" will mean that we have irrefutable evidence, and we shouldn't bother trying to keep him alive._

It was a simple step to a greater plan, but obviously it worked. There was little that one needed to account for when magic-killing bullets were readily available.

"What did you find, Shirou?"

Instead of answering him verbally, I handed him the letter I had found.

As he read it, his brow tightened.

He came to the same conclusion I had.

"Kischur's Jewel has nothing to do with apostle research," Kiritsugu offered in summary. "He was going to give it to the Einzbern family in exchange for living resources."

I nodded. "Archis had the right idea taking the jewel from him, but he hadn't figured out the right reason."

"Is the workshop intact?" asked Kiritsugu.

"Yeah. Didn't touch it."

"Good. Leave it as-is. Let the Enforcers find it."

I had a thought. "Say… if the Einzbern want this thing so badly, wouldn't they set their sights on whoever has it now, the moment they realize that their "delivery boy" lost it?"

Though the letter would serve its part to keep _us _out of trouble, the courts of the supernatural side of things could do little to pin anything substantial on the family itself. They were loosely affiliated with the Association at best, and if a single document was all we had, then no-one would be dispatched to discipline them.

What that also meant was–

"I believe that's a fair assumption," he agreed. "I would go as far as to say that miss Red would need to find a helping hand willing to keep her would-be aggressors at bay."

"Considering that we have our own misgivings with their lot, it'd be economical of us to do her a "favour", right?"

Kiritsugu patted me on the back– something that I'd realized he hadn't done in a while. He made his way out the door, and I pulled along a neutral-faced Sakura along to follow.

"Of course," he replied.

X

Our last detour before we could catch a flight to London was a necessary one. As Aozaki was the one who asked us to do this in the first place, it was only right that we inform her of the standing circumstances.

So that she knew to get a second body ready, of course.

The moment we stepped foot in the woman's current place of business, I felt a pair of fingers pinch my cheek.

"Back so soon? Oh, I'm so _glad_ Shirou-kun!" she chirped in a baby voice. "Mister jewelry thief won't bother us anymore, right?"

_You're _the thief here, and you're an all-round terrible person to boot.

"He won't be bothering _anyone_," I corrected. "With what we found in his closet, the Mage's Association will probably thank us for offing him so they don't have to."

She was ignoring me. Aozaki was crouched on the balls of her feet, running her hands through Sakura's hair.

"How pretty! Make sure to brush this properly, okay?"

"Yes," answered the girl easily.

Well, I guess it's as good a time as ever to have her know exactly what she's going to be dealing with.

"Her name is Sakura. She's the one who'll require your services."

"Is that so?"

Aozaki made no visible indication of having paid attention to what I said; she didn't turn away from the girl's hair, nor did she stop playing with it. If I hadn't caught the way her eyes softened, I could have wagered that she didn't care.

"There's one more thing."

This time, she _did _look my way.

"Meluastea had no intention of using Kischur's Jewel," I informed her. "He was going to give it to the Einzbern family."

She stiffened. "To what means?"

"We don't know," spoke Kiritsugu, "but you should know what that means for you."

She hummed. "They'll want to collect their repossessed property."

I went for it. "Which means it would be in your best interest to have someone take care of those loose ends before they have the chance to come back and do you harm."

She stepped away from Sakura as her lips quirked in amusement. "I suppose I would owe this 'someone' a reward for such a task, right?"

I met her with a smirk of my own. "I'd say–"

"_If _the Einzbern really are involved–"

"They are!" I shouted, wide-eyed. It would seem that we weren't on the same page after all.

"–then I would just have to tough it out. I'm sure little old me can handle it."

I was at a loss. She had us kill the Clocktower Lord, but she didn't care to have a _family _of magi pulled off her trail?

"Be careful not to overestimate yourself, and _definitely _not to underestimate them," Kiritsugu chastised.

She smiled innocently. "I'll manage! I promise."

A cold sweat ran down the length of my back. It was things like this…

Things like this that reminded me that Aozaki Touko couldn't be held to the same standards –the same logic– as any other regular human being.

It isn't possible to predict what she's thinking, and I shouldn't have bothered to try in the first place.

"In your mind, what is a second body worth?"

It was better to ask her outright. I realized now that our first deal was little more than luck.

She pouted with a scrunched brow, and rubbed her chin with a finger. She was making a show of thinking about it, which told me she already had something in mind. If she didn't, she would have given me a straight "No".

Probably.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I know!"

I leaned in. Kiritsugu did nothing so obvious, but I knew she had his attention as well.

"If you can convince the bigwigs to drop my sealing designation, then I could probably work something out."

I tisked and tore my gaze away.

"There's no way that I can promise something like that."

I knew full well what that would entail. A plea to revoke a sealing designation would have to be taken up with Policies, who in turn would discuss with the Observatory, which would effectively have me take the issue to the faculty's director. It _just so happened _that the faculty director was also the _vice _director of the whole damn Clocktower.

"Then there's no way that I can promise you'll find a second body alongside the first, right?"

My glowering just seemed to liven her spirits, so I tried my best to keep my expression neutral.

Kiritsugu stepped forward. "We'll see what we can do."

I stared at him, trying to figure out if he had a plan or if he well and truly lost what little sanity he had left.

I couldn't discount the second possibility.

Aozaki looked frustratingly pleased with herself. She tapped her palm with her opposite fist. "One last thing. Feel free to blame Edor and his friend for the _mysterious disappearance _of the jewel, m'kay?"

I blinked. Come to think of it… "Where are they?"

I couldn't think of a reason for this woman to so willingly place blame on someone who was supposedly her friend.

Her smile widened, and I felt my stomach knot when it did.

It wasn't a pleasant smile.

"They're permanently indisposed. I wouldn't wish for you to worry yourself over it."

I took this as a cold yet much-needed reminder. For all that I had been making my frustrations with Aozaki known, I had allowed myself to relax in her presence.

I shouldn't ever forget the monster she truly is.

Something had happened between her and the two magi during the time that we were gone, but I would not allow myself to dwell on it lest I find her ire. She had either killed them or done something similar.

"Let's go," I told the old man. I turned away knowing that _damnable _smile was at my back.

Her hand grabbed my shoulder to stop my advance, and I just about sent a dozen or so blades barrelling into her. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to stay my hand.

"I almost forgot," she muttered. The cheery inflections were gone. "Take this."

It was a business card with a phone number and address penned onto the front.

"After today, I'll be packing my bags and heading out. If you have any plans of cashing in on your 'reward', contact me here."

I took a good look at the address.

"You'll be in Japan," I remarked.

"Mhm. Mifune City. Not too far, I hope?"

I wouldn't shoot myself in the foot by revealing how close or far our home is from her new base of operations.

"We'll manage."

She was all smiles again. "Good, good!"

She took out a cigarette, and I took that as my cue to usher us out the door.

X

The three of us were quiet on the plane, from the moment we took off up until we landed in England. Not out of any sort of discomfort, necessarily, but simply of a lack of conversational material.

Though I guess there was one thing I was curious about.

"Old man."

He didn't look at me. He didn't even vocalize any sign of having heard me other than a suggestive hum.

"Do you have a plan?" It was a vague question, so I explained, "To have the sealing designation removed, I mean."

I found it odd that he told the woman that we would give it a shot. For all of his grand dreams of saving every single person on this god-forsaken earth, he was undoubtedly practical to a fault.

He had gone over some of his old plans for the sake of example, a little while ago. The bastard once shot a seven-year-old girl taken hostage through the neck to kill her captor, only because there was a _chance _that the said captor would detonate a bomb in a hospital before the hostage could be saved.

He didn't explore odds. He dealt only with certainties. Whether it was a learned behaviour from a previous disaster or simply how he came out of the womb, I didn't know, nor did I care to find out.

"It won't happen, but we can give it a go" didn't sound like him, even if his own daughter was involved.

_Especially _since his daughter was involved.

Kiritsugu thought before answering. "I'm fairly well… acquainted with the vice director."

I blinked.

"I've taken in some requests from him in the past, so I like to think that I have a good grasp of his character. I phoned in ahead with this situation concerning the late Lord of Kischur, and our cooperation here just might be enough to have us heard out. Actually–"

He scanned the crowd on the other side of the customs area.

"–He mentioned that he sent his assistant to escort us to him directly. His granddaughter, if I recall."

Hold on. Hold on for _just a moment_. Granddaughter? What do you mean he? Isn't the vice director–

A particularly well-dressed brunette marched up to us the moment we collected our baggage. She was tall, though it could just be the fashion she squared her shoulders.

She was young though, wasn't she? Familiar too, but that couldn't be right. A teenager– twenty at the very most.

"Emiya," she nodded to the old man, ignoring both Sakura and myself in a manner that was becoming a recurring theme amongst these types. I should buckle up and get used to it, I'm sure.

Surprising me greatly, she bowed. To be fair, it was a little more than a twitch of the neck, but it was infinitely more than what could be expected of quite literally _anyone _at the Clocktower– doubly so since we were of Asian descent.

"My name is Lorelei Barthomeloi, assisting faculty representative of the Policies department. The vice-director –Lord of Policies– would have you escorted to his office posthaste."

Ah.

That's why she seemed familiar, then.

…

What year was it, again?


	11. Chapter 11

(A/N) Noice. The story returns after a mildly concerning month or so away without leave. Thanks for making His Body is Made of Swords my first story to reach 1k follows, everyone (Emiya-sensei demolished the record in like two chapters, but that's a story for another time).

To commemorate this wonderful milestone, I'll be drawing out the entire first chapter as a fan comic. It will be a way for me to practice using different digital brushes, as I am still more or less an amateur when it comes to digital media. I'll post it on my Twitter, and I'll let y'all know (somehow) when it's done.

So here we are, part one of the grand finale of the introductory "segment" of HBMS. It will probably be spread over quite a few chapters and will end up going places that few will expect. A lot of the stuff that's been alluded to will come into play shortly (or not so shortly idk lol)

Thanks for sticking with me up until this point, and I hope that we all (mostly me) make it to the true starting line of the story with our brains in one piece.

X

The vice director, a man I've quite certainly never met in my extended life, stared down at Sakura, then at me. After looking at us for a little over a second, his eyes dragged themselves up to meet Kiritsugu's.

I had to stop myself from shuffling on my feet. Silence for this long was kind of awkward, wasn't it?

The man had a stern, wrinkled face, though I'm sure he was still older than he appeared. He wore his greying brown hair at shoulder length, paired with a voluminous mustache. His clasped hands pushed up the said mustache, elbows propped securely on his oak desk.

He looked the part of a man that hadn't a clue why there were kids standing in front of him, nor what he was expected to do with their presence.

"Lorelei, dear, why don't you take the children outside."

I suppose that worked.

"I– uhm…" the woman seemed flustered all of a sudden. "Grandfather… what would you have me do with them?"

She hid it well, but I could see the panic in her eyes. She was probably about as used to looking after little kids as she was used to saying "No" to her grandfather.

Kiritsugu spared me a glance, his face contorted in such a way that I could interpret his intentions as "Will you two be alright on your own?"

His worry quickly died as he spotted my poorly-concealed mirth at the young woman's expense.

That's right, old man. You just focus on getting what we came here for.

"Give them a tour," suggested the older man with a wave of the hand. I couldn't say I expected Policies to host walkarounds very often, but then again there couldn't be very many children that come here with their parents.

"Yes. Of course."

X

Policies was a large department with a strong faculty representation. Despite knowing this, it still surprised me a great deal to find out just how far out their campus extended. Barthomeloi had told us that we were underground somewhere near Hyde Park, over three kilometers from where we entered the college.

"Few have been allowed to step so close to the Chamber of Law. Be grateful," she told us for the thousandth time as we walked past another door that probably led to somewhere important.

Honestly, the whole "being grateful" thing might stick better if she bothered to actually explain where we were, or the significance of the places she was overselling.

Willing to get us out of her grandfather's hair she might be, but a tour guide she was not.

"Can we see what's inside?" I tried to break the monotony of our current activity.

Barthomeloi crushed my hopes quickly and efficiently. "No."

I didn't even bother trying to argue with her. The stubbornness that radiated from her person was strong enough to rival a certain magus I knew; my energy would be better spent elsewhere.

This woman was like Rin in many ways… except she had all the "tsun" and none of the "dere".

As luck would have it, the repetitive scenery of the Clocktower's underground passage was done away with as some sort of botanical garden came into sight.

Bathomeloi didn't even give it a glance and walked right past it.

Sakura seemed much more captivated, by comparison. She stared at a nearby flowerbed with glimmering eyes.

"Ah…"

She shuffled closer to a batch of blue flowers and crouched over them.

Barthomeloi looked over her shoulder with an irritated expression. "Why are you wasting time with decorations? Let us move on."

So it really was just a garden then– possibly placed here as some sort of landmark or meeting place for the few students who'd bother with such a thing. It couldn't be anything else for her to disregard it so easily.

I could have come up with some sort of retort that would've surely driven her up the walls, but I was drawing blanks. My focus was on Sakura, who was showing more emotion over a few plants than I've seen from her since I kidnapped her.

"Well?" asked our guardian expectantly.

"We'll be looking at these flowers for a bit. Thanks."

Her jaw slackened. It wasn't by much, but the expression was accentuated by how tight her face usually was. Young, she may be, but I couldn't help but doubt that she had much experience with others telling her "No."

Ignoring the brunette's presence, I asked my friend, "Are you alright, Sakura?"

"…Mommy likes these flowers."

"…"

Not much I could say to that, to be honest. I never knew the girl's mother personally, I don't think, and I wouldn't be able to remember Rin's mentions of her if my life depended on it. Dead or simply not around, I did not know.

Sakura reached for a flower.

My heartbeat quickened. At first, I didn't know what was happening, but then a _shock _ran through my brain.

Like what happened at the church, I _perceived _the world around me in a way that humans could not, let alone a child of my supposed age.

Once more, I saw through the eyes of a counter guardian.

It was for that reason alone that I was able to react in time.

I pulled the smaller girl towards me by the collar of her shirt, and steadied her as she was swept off her feet. In the same instant, the maw of some sort of creature erupted from the flowerbed and crashed into the previously occupied pathway.

The attack was ill-intentioned. The impact alone sent dust and rubble flying every which way, forcing me to turn my back to it so as not to let the debris hit Sakura.

I cursed my physical inability to jump away from the danger. I heard a growl from behind me, and I knew that I had exposed my back to whatever it was that was after us.

My newfound sense of perception alerted me of a strike closing in on the side of my head. Maybe if I acted fast enough, I would be able to–

WHOOSH

I dropped to the ground, and pulled Sakura along with me as forceful tunnels of wind came to life behind me. I heard the creature screech, then a rumble as something collided against the walls of the extended hallway.

Barthomeloi marched our way with a livid snarl across her face.

"Who _dares?_" she demanded of who I presumed to be our assailant. "The Department of Zoology better have a _remarkable _explanation for this."

I got to my feet and looked for the creature. A good ten paces away, closer to the edges of the garden, laid an unresponsive and very much dead chimera. There was a good chunk taken out of the wall behind it.

I didn't bother to question how such a massive thing came out of a twenty-centimeter shrubbery, as I knew its presence was somehow masked by magecraft.

Logically, what I _did _ask was, "Do you think its master is nearby?"

Barthomeloi grunted. "I would presume so."

Her eyes took a quick glance from side to side.

"This is not an ideal place for a confrontation," she told us. As if to support her argument, a chute of loosened tile fell from the ceiling. "We are being targeted, but my magecraft is not suited for narrow spaces, where our opponent _cowers out of sight_."

The vitriol at the tip of her tongue had me convinced that she wanted to hurt whoever was after our group more than they did us.

As if queued by her challenge, a pair of shadows jumped out behind the angry brunette. She spun around to confront them, but I, by benefit of a clear path, was able to act faster.

I traced two blades as close to the shadows as I could and fired them simultaneously. One was caught by surprise and impaled straight through the chest, but the other got by with a grazed shoulder.

The figure, dressed head-to-toe in a black cloth that hid their identity, threw an object –a rudimentary explosive, as I saw it through an instant structural analysis– straight at the ceiling.

I wasn't able to warn our guardian in time. In less than a second, everything in a ten-meter radius above us came crashing down around us, closing off any means of escape. The underground tunnels must have been close to the surface, as flashes of natural light slipped through the cracks.

The change happened in a blink.

The garden was a mess. I had lost track of Barthomeloi, and Sakura was–

I panicked.

"Sakura!"

I swung my head from side to side. My eyesight, sharpened as it was, quickly zeroed in on the masked figure that was holding her underarm.

I wouldn't be able to engage the enemy with ranged projectiles as long as they held a hostage. Were I a good eighty centimeters taller and about a hundred pounds larger, I would have been able to engage in melee combat, but alas, I was anchored to the body of a rug rat.

Barthomeloi, from wherever she was, heard my yell. She suddenly appeared over my shoulder, pulled out a riding crop out from under her sleeve and pointed it at the remaining assassin.

Before the figure could escape through the only possible exit, the ceiling was blocked by a flurry of rubble kept afloat by magical wind currents.

The figure jumped away, but not fast enough to escape a few scrapes. In their arms, Sakura whimpered audibly as she was unluckily struck across the forehead by a sharp rock.

"Watch it!" I shouted at the woman who was supposed to be helping, _not making things worse_.

As my terrible running luck would have it, she wasn't even given the change to answer for her misdeed.

The wind spell that was supposed to serve as a barricade ended up doing the complete opposite. The flying rocks knocked loose what little support the ceiling had left.

Barthomeloi's eye's widened. Acting quickly, she dismissed her spell and erected an air dome large enough to protect both of our heads from the more hazardous bits of falling rubble.

What was once a few man-sized cracks had unfortunately become much more than "a few man-sized cracks". The segment of underground hallways in which we were trapped had adopted an open-air concept.

A low growl echoed. At first, I thought it was the woman next to me, but the noise was shortly followed by many others.

I looked up. Coming down from the newly-made hole above our heads, four more chimeras approached with coiled shoulders, ready to pounce on us.

Reinforcements?

…Unlikely. I would wager that a secondary force was positioned close by in case… _whatever this was _didn't work out for them.

Disregarding my slowly simmering anger, I didn't feel a shred of worry. Chimeras were technically phantasmal species, but that didn't mean that these patchwork dolls made by modern craft would pack the same punch as the mystery of a creature from the age of the gods.

I could attest to that.

Barthomeloi likely felt the same way. She bent one of these things in half with a single blow, after all.

All that said, my following actions had nothing to do "fear" or any kind of sense of self-preservation. They were entirely vindictive, and the result of my misplaced frustration.

Five nameless swords appeared over my shoulder.

Ten more, accompanied by seven spears.

Thirty more swords, fifteen spears, twelve halberds.

In the span of three and a half seconds, one hundred and twenty-six weapons were traced in the relatively confined space of the underground pathway. It took twice as long for all of said weapons to be launched, and for all four chimeras to drop dead as a result of the onslaught.

Annoyingly, the kidnapper knew to take advantage of my delay. In an impressive display of reinforcement magecraft, they jumped straight out to the open air above.

Sighing, I started to climb the pile of rubble as quickly as I could. The surface wasn't too far away, luckily.

I didn't make it more than an inch off the ground before Barthomeloi grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and _lifted _me all the way up. She was manipulating the air currents in order to make us float.

I was placed down on two feet, and I only felt somewhat embarrassed that she was able to hold my weight with a single hand.

I was able to get a proper view of the park, and I didn't like what I saw.

There were a good thirty to forty more masked heads similar to the pair that had ambushed us in the garden. Even under daylight, the black cloth prevented me from noticing any distinguishing features on any of them.

It was very probable that they were mystic codes of some sort.

I spotted the one who ran with Sakura.

He was visibly tired. Though he didn't make a noise, his frame was slumped and his chest heaved. At some point, he had knocked the girl out.

I traced the most aerodynamic and low-cost knife I could and landed it between the captor's ears.

The action caught the notice of the group. Sakura was taken by another figure the moment she touched the ground.

"You're a fool, boy," muttered Barthomeloi under her breath. "We're grossly outnumbered."

A… fair point. We didn't know the extent of their abilities, either.

But nonetheless…

"We can't let them take Sakura."

If this was an organized attack, and they were prioritizing taking Sakura over killing us, then I'd wager that whoever was in charge of this knew who she was.

Whether it was Zouken trying to take her back or someone else, the end result wouldn't be good for her either way.

I would not allow it. If I had to give up mine _and _this stuck-up woman's life to save her, then so be it.

"How frustrating."

Our attention turned to another woman making herself visible at the front of the group. She was the only one unmasked, revealing her pale skin and shortly-cropped blond hair, and wore some sort of odd military uniform in place of the black garb.

She _did _seem quite frustrated. If nothing else, she was upfront about her feelings.

Barthomeloi tilted her chin up and made a point of looking down on the other woman.

"Christodoulopoulos," she greeted scathingly.

…Eh? Did they know each other?

The blonde tisked. "It would have made my life a lot easier if you could have died when you were supposed to. It will be significantly more difficult to keep this operation quiet if you struggle too much."

_Another _pair of chimeras slid past the ranks of the assassins and flanked her on each side. Unlike the other five who were more similar to the standard mythological depiction of the creature, these had the heads of bears and the bodies of… I didn't know what that was supposed to be, honestly. A really large cat? A deer with paws?

I stared at the side of Barthomeloi's head.

"You two don't get along," I remarked.

"It is not your concern," she replied through clenched teeth.

I'd disagree, seeing as how they were trying to kill us, but I wasn't about to start _that _argument right now.

"Who hired you?" I asked the blonde from where I stood. I had no clue who she was, and I'd wager that she didn't know who Sakura and I were either.

I was met with silence. The lady tilted her neck towards us with narrowed eyes, clearly not having understood what I had said from so far away.

To my complete and utter dismay, I was unable to speak any louder. Because of my youthful lungs and vocal cords, anything more than the tone I had just used would come out as a squeak.

I was not a prideful individual, but pride had nothing to do with saving myself from unnecessary embarrassment.

Barthomeloi stared down at me, as if asking if I was going to repeat myself. I stared back as neutrally as possible.

"Who is your employer!" Barthomeloi spoke for me.

Thank you. I won't say it out loud, but thank you.

The blonde's frown flipped into a cocky sneer. "Employer? No."

One of the cloaked members of her troupe took off with Sakura. My face was stone cold, but I could feel my fingernails digging into the flesh of my palms.

"We're just returning a favour. They scratch our back, we scratch theirs."

She swung her arms out to the side, gesturing to the masked forces behind her.

I almost recoiled in surprise, not actually expecting her to answer. To this day, I couldn't understand the way these prideful magi thought things through. Regardless, I'd make sure to remember that bit of information.

"Barthomeloi," I spoke softly.

Her eyes flicked my way.

"I'm going to do something very stupid. It will drain all of my magical power, and I will probably pass out. When I do, leave me and go after Sakura."

I felt Barthomeloi's calculating glare on the back of my head.

"You're not a normal child," she remarked. "Son of the Magus Killer or not."

How observant of you.

"Will you, yes or no?"

"…"

She was taking too long to answer. Oh well. I could only hope she listens.

"Trace, on."

A respectable four or so meters above my head, the demon spear of Culann's Hound spun slowly.

If I was going to throw it this way, then I would have liked to keep it as far from my body as possible.

"Gáe…"

There it was: the drain on my reserves. These circuits hadn't been tempered by thousands of years' worth of use, so one mystery of this level was just about all that I would be able to manage.

"Bolg!"

The Noble Phantasm was thrown, and one became many. I heard some sort of commotion, but I couldn't learn the results of my efforts before consciousness left me.

X

"Wake up, boy."

I groaned.

"I don't have time for this, and neither do you."

A hand shook my shoulder vigorously, and I could feel my brain rattle in my skull. Show some restraint, would you? You're not supposed to shake a kid this much.

My eyes opened, and I was met with the mildly blurry face of Barthomeloi.

"Well?" I asked.

"They got away," she grumbled.

Though I was in the motion of sitting upright, my strength was taken from me and I flopped right back onto the upturned ground beneath me.

"Damnit."

"I won't allow the girl to slip away from us."

Slip away? She was already gone, but she shouldn't have "slipped away" at all to begin with. It was becoming clear to me that this teenage version of the future vice-director wasn't yet as capable as she would one day become.

"…What happened?" I asked.

"Christa survived the explosion," she answered. "I defeated her, but she delayed me for nearly a minute. She took advantage of the fact that you were... indisposed, and targeted your body."

She made "nearly a minute" sound as though she was kept to a standstill. I guess I couldn't fault her too much if she was trying to stop me from being killed.

Even though I asked her not to.

"Christa? Is that the blond woman?"

Barthomeloi nodded. "Christa Christodoulopoulos is the daughter of Agamemnon Christodoulopoulos, a man who shows great… _dislike _for my grandfather. Agamemnon resents that Lord Barthomeloi was elected vice-director over himself."

This Christa woman mentioned something about returning a favour, didn't she?

"Not liking him is one thing, but can they afford to attack you like this? They must know that they wouldn't have gotten away with it if they didn't kill all of us."

"It _is _strange," she agreed. "Grandfather would have every excuse he would need to erase their bloodline."

Gears started to turn in my head, and I didn't like what I was coming up with.

"What if we weren't the only targets? Lord Barthomeloi could be in trouble."

The old man too.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Impossible. Despite his renown within the Department of Zoology, Agamemnon isn't a Lord. He doesn't have the forces or resources to…"

She trailed off, looking off to the side.

I finally decided to sit up straight to find what she was looking at.

Countless cloaked bodies littered the scorched earth of Hyde Park.

"They scratch our back, we scratch theirs," I mumbled, recalling the blond woman's words from earlier.

If these weren't her men, then they most likely belonged to whoever wanted Sakura.

It would make sense. Christodoulopoulos probably brokered a deal where the third party would provide forces to overthrow Barthomeloi, and Sakura would be secured for them in return.

I couldn't be sure without definite proof. Maybe Christa had something on her person that we could use as a clue.

"Where's the blonde now?"

Barthomeloi pointed to an uprooted tree.

I quickly spotted Christa Christodoulopoulos' body and planted my face in my hands. If there wasn't even a limb to be made out of the bloody smear on the bark, then my hopes of finding a letter or something similar were close to none.

"Let's unmask these people," I suggested.

She nodded. Thankfully, Barthomeloi was past the point of dismissing me because of my appearance.

I approached the closest body that was more or less in one piece and pulled on the face mask.

I frowned. The mystic code seemed to prevent me from removing the covering.

With an insignificant gesture of the hand, Barthomeloi muttered, "Cyrf."

A blade of wind sliced through the neck of the corpse, severing the spell, cloth, and head all at once.

A cold sweat ran down my neck. Cyrf was a simple wind spell, but its intention was to "cut". Much like how Rin was powerful enough to turn her simple "Gandr" curse into a physically damaging attack, Barthomeloi's spell was overloaded with so much magical energy to the point that it cut straight through the barriers of the mystic code as if they weren't even there.

She might be a little less refined than the Lorelei Barthomeloi of the future, but the raw talent was doubtlessly there.

Pulling off the headcover, her brow furrowed at the sight underneath.

"This is…"

I gulped.

Why? Why _them _again? What could they possibly want with Sakura?

"It's a homunculus," Barthomeloi announced.

They all were, most likely.

First Kischur's Jewel, now Sakura. If it was raw magical power that they were after, then…

I sighed.

"Let's go make sure the vice-director is alright."

I sincerely hoped that I wouldn't have to rescue their sorry asses, but if I did, then Lord Barthomeloi better return the favour.

I had a kouhai to save.

I tried to stand up, but I stumbled and almost fell, were it not for Barthomeloi steadying me.

"After what you did, you should be glad to still be alive," she chided. "It was reckless."

"It worked."

"You're insufferable."

"So I've been told."

She let go of me and watched as I fell to the earth face first. "You will be useless as you are now."

"…"

She let the issue die when it was clear that I lost the exchange. Instead, she focused on a different matter.

"That spell you used. It wasn't Gradation Air," she remarked, referring to my earlier stunt to take out all the cloaked figures.

"Oh?" I quirked a brow. "And what makes you say that?"

If my acting like an ignoramus made her want to pulverize me the same way she did the other magus girl, then she didn't show it. For whatever reason, she seemed infinitely more patient now then however I remembered her to be.

"The strength of… _whatever that was... _grossly surpasses what is capable of being achieved with a simple projection. It will be quite difficult for us to return the park to the condition it was in before."

I could believe it. Gáe Bolg made it look like someone was testing some sort of bomb here.

"I'm good at what I do."

"You don't look a day over six," she noted.

"I resent that," I shot back. "I'm…"

I took a moment to remember how old I was supposed to be. "At _least _seven."

And if you're going to bring that up in an argument, you can at least _pretend_ to be phased by it. You've been talking to me this whole time the same as you would if I were a grown man, and you know it.

Barthomeloi didn't deign to answer back. Instead, she said, "Lord Barthomeloi is not so weak as to fall to someone like Agamemnon."

I stood once more, as shaky as my legs were.

"Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

She might have been right, but there must have been a reason that Lorelei Barthomeloi could become the vice-director of one of the Mage's Association's prime institutions at such a young age. On one hand, there were enough inconsistencies between the two timelines that I knew to dismiss the thought, but on the other, anything that involved the Einzbern family couldn't be dismissed out of hand.

"Of course not!" she denied in such a defensive tone that I could barely consolidate it with the fact that it came out of her mouth.

I grimaced. I was just about done with her wasting time. "Then we need to stop overthinking this and get going. The sooner we stop these people from attacking Lord Barthomeloi, the sooner I can get him to help me find Sakura."

I didn't necessarily think the man was weak to guilt trips or anything, but anyone in such a high legislative position would be expected to return favours.

The brunette crossed her arms. "Absolutely not."

Huh?"

"I won't let you take advantage of his situation," she explained. "Lord Barthomeloi has tasked me with ensuring your safety, and I won't disappoint him any further. I will retrieve the girl personally."

It took everything that I had in me to not pull at my hair in frustration. This woman was an absolute self-important mess. Shame on me for thinking her intentions were even marginally altruistic.


	12. Chapter 12

(A/N) So after realizing just how long it has been since I've updated, I decided that I should try to quell worries about the death of this story. Either the next chapter or the one after will be the final installment before the prologue comes to a close. Much like the visual novel, the intro has been quite long.

Not much that my sleep-deprived self can say here, other than "Assume that I'm swamped with work if I'm not updating". It's been rough recently, especially since Monster Hunter World received its final update. On the bright side, I won't be beating Fatalis and moving on to other things in the near future. Ha. Haha.

On a more related note, it was upon rereading this chapter that I realized that there are _a lot _of "background processes" going on in this chapter to the point where I started to worry if I left out too much. Stuff goes by really quickly, and some things will make you think, "Wait, why does _that _happen?" In the end, though, I settled with this because I wasn't about to shove words into characters mouths for the sake of exposition. As an amateur writer, this is the most cohesive version of this chapter that I could provide through a single character's perspective.

I hope you all enjoy the chap, and please look forward to what's to come.

X

"Put me down, woman!"

I was ignored once again, forced to swallow my own indignance as Barthomeloi by all intents and purposes _flew _with my person carried underarm.

Damnit! Magical exhaustion was one thing, but why did my legs have to turn to jelly too? To think that I needed to be hauled around like a housecat on a trip to the veterinarian was frustrating beyond words.

The window leading into the Vice Director's office –a good bit higher up than most of the college– was visible about half a kilometer ahead. I braced myself as the air currents carrying us shifted, and we were sped up further.

The arm wrapped around my waist tightened. I could literally _feel _her nervousness.

We were moments away from crashing through the window. It would make for one hell of an entrance, but I suppose we'd rather be safe than sorry in this particular scenario; if this all ended up being a false alarm, then I could shift the blame onto the Vice Director's granddaughter for causing a commotion.

Yes. That sounded like a fine idea.

Before we made contact, I noticed an orange hue forming behind the window. Had my eyes gone back to normal, it would have slipped right past me. I was lucky.

We were _both _lucky.

I reached up and yanked on Barthomeloi's collar as hard as I could. It was just enough to shift our trajectory from crashing into the window to crashing into a solid brick wall and god knows what speed.

I grunted as I heard a loud crunch from somewhere within me. Hopefully, Barthomeloi took the hit better than I did.

Despite being staggered for a moment, the woman was able to catch both of us with her magic. She looked livid.

"You–"

The whole sequence of events took less than a fraction of a second, which I'd say was a good thing since our impacting the wall was immediately followed by a volley of fireballs bursting out through the window.

"You're welcome," I drawled.

How lamentable. I was ignored once more.

Her magic pulled us through the now-shattered glass screen, and it didn't take long to put two and two together.

A very tall and _very _muscular bald man, flanked by two more cloaked homunculi, stood facing the window with an outstretched hand.

He clicked his tongue. "Impressive. I didn't think that your granddaughter had it in her to dodge that, you old bastard."

Lord Barthomeloi who was still sitting behind his desk, scoffed audibly. "Such a base _trick_ would never best one of my own, fool."

My eye twitched. He was wrong. It totally would have worked if I didn't pull us out of the way.

"Shirou," my old man called out to me from his standing position next to the Vice Director. He paused to take an unnecessarily-long drag of his cigarette. Despite myself, waited patiently for whatever it was he needed to tell me.

"You look tired."

I snapped.

"At least look a _little _worried, will you?"

We must have gotten here just on time because the room –other than the window– was virtually untouched. The pre-emptive strike upon our entrance was probably the start of the conflict.

Despite outnumbering the adversary four to three now, I wasn't too sure of our chances. In my condition, I was about as useful as an anchor on an inflatable raft, the old man was too sick to fight at full strength, and Lorelei Barthomeloi as she was now was wet behind the ears.

On the other hand, the man I assumed to be Agamemnon Christodoulopoulos might have been a match for the Vice Director for all I knew, and those two homunculi with him couldn't possibly be cannon-fodder type if the pair was all that was felt to be needed to take charge of the situation.

I glared at mini-Barthomeloi –who was still holding me, by the way– from the corner of my eye. Why did we jump in like this again?

Oh. That's right. No time.

As if by some sort of command that I wasn't able to hear, one of the homunculi shot a spell at the Vice Director and the old man. Despite the fearsome appearance of the attack, it was easily blocked and sent right back in the caster's face with a frankly terrifying wind bullet.

The Vice Director's expression, which had been straight to that point, shifted to mild surprise when the supposed deathblow didn't so much as phase the homunculus that stood in front to take the hit.

I was right, then. Not normal homunculi at all.

Eyes narrowed, Lord Barthomeloi stated, "I don't recognize these ones. New followers of yours?"

"They're Einzbern. He's working with them," I interjected.

I had caught the attention of both Kiritsugu and the Lord of Policies, while Christodoulopoulos visibly frowned. I couldn't tell if the homunculi had a reaction because of their dress, but then again I couldn't be sure if they were _capable _of reacting at all, to begin with.

By virtue of being pressed firmly into her side, I could feel that mini-Barthomeloi wasn't all that comfortable with the eyes on us.

Kiritsugu must have finally put two and two together.

"Where's Sakura?" he asked uneasily.

Christodoulopoulos burst out laughing.

"I see! My daughter succeeded, then. Excellent! I'll make sure to reward her for her efforts."

I couldn't help but to shoot back, "Your daughter's also dead as bricks, so the reward might have to be postponed indefinitely."

The man's laughter came to an abrupt end. He took a moment to process what I had said, then snarled.

"You lie, boy! You expect me to believe that this girl was able to defeat my daughter _despite_ the numbers at her side?"

Maybe it was the frustration finally getting to me, but I smirked as I added, "She's dead, alright. I'd offer to show you proof, but her corpse is absolutely _smeared _across a tree; I doubt you'd recognize her. Kind of looked like marmite spread on toast, now that I think about it."

My comment must have been a little out of left field, because even _Lord Barthomeloi _was staring at me strangely, and I couldn't help but doubt that he made that expression all that often. His granddaughter –the one that _did _the spreading– upturned her nose at the analogy.

Kiritsugu, unflappable Magus Killer that he was, made the best out of the opening provided by Christodoulopous' distraction. From within his trench coat, he pulled out a Calico M950 –a semi-automatic pistol that I could only name off the top of my head because of the literal hell it gave me when Kiritsugu made me tinker with it– and opened fire.

I didn't know what surprised me the most. That he could carry that bulky thing in his jacket without me noticing? That the homunculi were fast enough to step between Christodoulopoulos and the line of fire? That the homunculi _still _didn't look like they took so much as a scratch?

Luckily, the moment created yet _another _opening, and Lord Barthomeloi decided to take the fight to Christodoulopoulos while his Einzbern guards were busy taking bullets for him.

The bald man took a step back as the Vice Director crossed the distance between them instantly with the assistance of some sort of wind spell.

The step didn't do much for him, unfortunately, because Lord Barthomeloi was able to reach out and clasp his hand around his adversary's naked cranium with strength that belied his limb's aged appearance.

Not bothering to take the younger man seriously, Barthomeloi looked away to address both his granddaughter and myself.

"It would serve both of you well to step away from that window."

We did as we were told. I didn't know what he had in mind, but I guess we were about to find out.

The bald man growled. "I won't let you!"

His hand burst into flames, and he took a wild swing at the Clocktower Lord. The punch was caught with the older one's free hand.

"Your pyromancy is as mediocre as those pathetic sewn-up sacks of meat you call chimeras. Maybe if you spent a little more time on one or the other, you would have gotten somewhere with your craft."

An unnamed spell rocketed the Zoology mage through the already broken aperture, parts of him clipping and destroying the surrounding wall on the way through.

"I must be out of practice," the elder man lamented. "For my aim to be so poor… how unsightly."

I watched the sequence of events with rapt interest. If anything, it cemented the idea that things must have gone differently in another time. Christodoulopoulos was so far below Barthomeloi's level that it wasn't even funny.

Maybe it was the homunculi that did him in? Perhaps.

…No, the homunculi were here for Sakura. They wouldn't be here otherwise.

Or would they?

A strangled sound emerged from my throat.

"Move!" I yelled.

Lorelei, who was still holding me for whatever reason, did the smart thing and listened. She threw herself –us– to the ground, narrowly saving us from being bifurcated.

One of the homunculi threw their weapon at us, thankfully ending up buried behind us harmlessly.

Considering that the halberd was buried into the stone wall up to the hilt, it wouldn't have been so harmless if it landed.

On the bright side, at least one of them didn't have their weapon any–

The other homunculus swung down on us with an oversized kanabo. I couldn't move right now, and the attack was too quick and too close for me to warn my ride. With my meager remaining reserves, all I could do was use alteration on the polearm over my head to bend its shaft protectively in front of us.

It worked for all of a second before the kanabo shattered our only line of defence.

It was to my immense relief that a second was more than enough time for Lorelei to react.

"Andslyht!"

It was shouted with much more urgency than any other spell I'd heard from her, and the difference in power was definitely noticeable. Sturdy or not, both homunculi were taken off their feet and thrown across the room by the powerful gust.

Again, they were undamaged.

They tried to move, but Lord Barthomeloi sent his own wind spell their way. A constant pressure fought against them to keep them in place, but it couldn't push them back just as they couldn't advance.

The man was stone-faced, but how much of it was confidence, and how much was a magus' pride not letting him show discomfort?

Looking at Kiritsugu, I didn't need longer than a second to be able to tell that he was worse for wear. The hand holding his gun was trembling, and I doubted that all this moving about left much in the tank for him, his stamina being what it was.

I bit my lip. How were we supposed to put down these Einzbern superpowers? They were too strong, too sturdy, too–

**"Roaaar!"**

I froze, and I could feel Lorelei do the same. I broke away from her and crawled towards the window, trying to see what it was that God thought funny enough to send our way next.

…

No. That's…

"Dragon?" mumbled Lorelei from over my shoulder.

Well, it _looked _like a dragon, at least. A horned lizard with wings…

Hm? Was that fire in its mouth?

Yes. Yes, it was. The fire was also very large and coming straight for us very quickly.

Lord Barthomeloi thought quickly on his feet. Disregarding the two homunculi that were now at his back, he erected some sort of forcefield around us.

It was just in time, too. I watched with some sort of detached admiration as half the damn _building _was incinerated in an instant. Thanks to the Lord of Policies, not only were we not burned to death, but we were also floated down the ground below instead of dropped to our dooms.

The forcefield was dropped, and I got a better look at the "dragon" now that we were out in the open air.

It landed not far from us, and I knew straight away that it wasn't actually anything remotely similar to a dragon. Its wings were closer to giant bat wings than wings of a divine beast, and its body looked more the part of an enlarged and spiky lizard.

The second thing I noticed was that a very much alive Christodoulopoulos was standing at its side, as mangled as he was.

He grinned.

"What do you think, Barthomeloi? It's my pride and joy– my greatest creation. My progeny might have fallen short, but this magnificent beast, made with nothing but my own two hands and cunning contributions to my field, will be your downfall."

"How ridiculous. For you to waste my time in such a way– I'm offended."

One moment the "dragon chimera" looked ready to roast us all whole, the next it was a headless corpse letting out gallons of blood into the upturned and scorched earth at our feet.

Christodoulopoulos seemed to be just as caught off guard as the rest of us.

"But…! But you…"

He was babbling. It was completely unsurprising to me that as a magus, he was more upset about the death of his fire-breathing bat-lizard than the death of his own flesh and blood.

His aggrieved snarl suddenly flipped into a smug sneer, and I knew something was wrong.

Turning around, I cursed upon seeing the two homunculi walking towards us.

Were they sheltered within the forcefield as well? They were not, if their tattered mystic codes were any indication. Somehow, the fire was damaging enough to burn even that, but their skin was entirely unblemished.

I was beginning to fear that they really _were _indestructible in every way that mattered.

"Kill them!" shouted Christodoulopoulos, practically frothing at the mouth. "Kill them all _now_!"

Ashamed as I was to admit it, a part of me feared that they might succeed. I was useless, the old man was useless, mini-Barthomeloi was useless, and Lord Barthomeloi could only do so much on his own.

Was pride and ego the only reason Lorelei and I came here? _Save _them? What a joke. It wasn't even as though we had an _inkling _of a chance to be of any help in the exhausted state we were in. If I were fresh, _maybe _there were some Noble Phantasms that could make quick work of these two, but even then there was a chance that the exertion would kill me. I might've bitten off more than I could chew.

Another strangely childish mistake that was unbecoming of me.

My rumination was cut short by a hand on my shoulder. Kiritsugu looked _through _me with great intensity.

"…"

"…"

"You said Sakura was taken by the Einzbern. They're here for her, correct?"

I didn't really know why that mattered anymore, but, "Yeah, that's right."

"Alright. We'll gather our strength and take a flight first thing tomorrow. We don't have time to waste, so we'll have to worry about Aozaki's request some other time."

I blinked.

"We'd have to live until tomorrow for that to happen, old man."

"Why wouldn't we?"

I was about to comment on his dismissal of the current clusterfuck, but then I physically _felt_ a stupidly large amount of magical energy emanating from the Vice Director. Usually, my magical sixth sense would be lead by smell, but the sheer amount of mana and od condensing around his person was so _thick _that it was tangible.

He waved his hand, and a tornado appeared.

It wasn't a _miniature _tornado, either. It was large enough to shut down a city and prompt an evacuation.

But it was controlled. It was directed.

At the homunculi.

I watched, mind utterly void, as the homunculi I thought to be indestructible were torn to shreds in a fraction of a second. The spell dissipated immediately after.

The man still didn't even look winded.

Did my current state make me overestimate the homunculi, or did it make me _underestimate _the Vice Director?

The bald man trembled. "No… No! There can't be this big of a gap between us! It's a trick! Back in the office, you–"

"Back in my office, I wanted to keep the furniture clean, you knave," finished the Vice Director. "That's no longer a concern of mine, unfortunately."

Hah. Only a magus would have such skewed priorities.

I was sure of it now. There was no way that this was the point in time where the old Vice Director lost his life. Not to this man, at least.

"Now. Begone with you."

A snap of the fingers. That was all it took for the man to be killed by the crushing weight of an invisible force. The ground cratered under his mangled body.

There was silence, then the man hummed, stroking his beard.

"It will take some time to restore this side of campus, I suppose. Follow me; I believe there is a vacant office in Mineralogy that we could occupy for the moment."

Kiritsugu nodded silently. He wasn't anywhere near as surprised as I was, which meant that he was likely fully aware of the Vice Director's capabilities.

Lorelei picked me up _again _and followed along.

"_Why_, damn you!"

I can walk now, sort of! Let me be!

I was once more speaking to a brick wall, but I had a feeling that it had more to do with her not having registered that I said anything rather than her ignoring me. She seemed to be deep in thought about something.

X

Lord Barthomeloi sighed into his interlinked hands. He leaned back into the chair of the Department of Mineralogy's head office and closed his eyes.

"I think I understand now. You're saying that in exchange for assisting Christodoulopoulos' paltry attempt at taking my life, the man helped them kidnap the girl?"

"That's the gist of it."

"I see. Lorelei."

The girl both straightened and squirmed once addressed. "Yes, grandfather."

"I asked you to look after them, didn't I?"

"I…"

It didn't take a genius to make out the mortification plastered across her face. I kind of understood that she wanted to please grandfather dearest and all, but the poor woman looked like she was about to pass out.

I was starting to get second-hand embarrassment from it, actually.

"Don't hold it against her," I mumbled. "I did something stupid, so she was stuck making sure that I didn't die."

I felt her eyes boring a hole into the back of my head, but I ignored it. I was more worried about the intense, calculating way that tornado-man was looking at me.

I couldn't tell if he was the sort of man to blame a seven-year-old for his inability to prevent a kidnapping, but I wouldn't find out today. He brought the conversation elsewhere.

"What is it about this girl that makes the Einzbern think that it's worth risking my ire?"

"Now that's the question, isn't it?" I replied almost instantly.

Once more, our gazes were locked, I sincerely hoped that eons of experience would help me keep a straight face here.

He broke away first, and I almost sighed in relief.

"Emiya," he addressed Kiritsugu, who stood to my left, "You'll be going after this girl of yours, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you will be attacking their estate in order to accomplish this, correct?"

"At this point? We might have to."

"Excellent," concluded the Vice Director with a nod. Personally, I didn't really know which part of this sounded _excellent_, but I wasn't about to ask for clarification. "I'd like to make a deal, Emiya. Concerning our earlier topic of conversation."

Amusingly enough, both Kiritsugu and I reacted with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll consider revoking Aozaki Touko's sealing designation under two conditions."

This was it. I didn't know _how _we managed to get to this point, but _this was it_.

"First, I'd prefer if you caused as much property damage as you could during your… let's call it a siege. From what you've told me, you were planning something similar either way, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Petty, but understandable. I'd be upset too if someone tried to kill me and ruined my stuff as a means to other ends. It wasn't as though a stealthy extraction was an option anyway, so what was the harm in planting a few extra bombs?

"Second, I would like for the boy to lend himself to the faculty part-time."

What?

…

_What?_

Why?

As discretely as I could, I tried to read into the Vice Director's stoic expression, but it bore no fruit. It didn't make sense… At no point did I do anything that would have properly caught the man's attention.

At least not to this extent.

Was I missing something? Did I _say _something? _Do _something?

Regardless, this was bad. "Lending myself" to the faculty was such a vague statement that I couldn't begin to guess what it was supposed to mean. Research? Human experimentation? It sounded like a shitty way to get myself killed, in all honesty.

"He has classes during the school year. There are circumstances that prevent him from staying here," Kiritsugu argued.

Good thinking, old man. I hope you've got more excuses from where those came from.

"That's fine. He'll come during the summer, then."

Kiritsugu looked my way for less than a second.

"That's fine."

Oh. Never mind.

…I wanted to say that I felt betrayed, but I really didn't. I understood, really. If my life were weighed against Illya's, then there's no doubt that Illya's life is more important to both the old man _and _myself. I might have been thrown under the bus, but it wasn't as though I wouldn't do the same thing in his place.

I had half a mind to ask the Vice Director _why _it was that he wanted me around, but I could tell right away by the look in his eye that I wasn't going to get a straight answer. And so, I didn't bother.

Hah. What a truly terrible father I have.

"Everything's sorted out, then," I concluded. "Should we head out? I'm tired."

"Grandfather!"

The three of us –even the older man in question– were caught off guard by the girl's sudden exclamation.

"What is it?"

He looked ready to scold her for the outburst but wanted to hear her out, apparently.

She took a breath, then took a moment to make sure that her shoulders were properly squared.

"Please allow me to join them. It is my fault that things happened as they did. I wish for the chance to redeem myself."

He hummed, thinking it over for a moment, before addressing Kiritsugu, "I'll leave the decision up to you, Emiya."

For the umpteenth time this past hour alone, the old man and I exchanged looks. I tried to convey as well as I could that the girl had a head the size of a blimp, and that taking her with us would be a tragic decision on his part.

"She would be a great help," Kiritsugu agreed.

Fuck you, old man.


	13. Chapter 13

(A/N) Not gonna lie, I fully expected to finish this in one chapter. Perhaps I was a little too ambitious.

Next chap is _for sure _the last one tho, shortly followed by an intermission that had been stuck in my mind long before this story ever existed. In a sense, you could say that this idea in particular was what inspired me to write a Fate Stay Night story in the first place.

As a side note, I'm aware that Sella and Leysritt were only made two years before the start of Fate Stay Night. For the sake of this story, however, we'll say that they were made immediately following the events of the fourth grail war. But seriously tho, who looked after Illya during that eight-year gap? Random Homunculi? I can't say that I picture Acht as a very capable or willing parental figure.

Big tings happen this chap. Be warned that full explanations may not be given for many a chapter yet.

As always, thanks for reading and please enjoy!

P.s. we've got a forum rolling. Go check it out (in my profile) 😎.

X

Mini-Barthomeloi snarled at the old man's suggestion.

"I will _not _be used in such a way."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, she'd see things that way. As smart as she undoubtedly was, she was an out-and-out magus. That alone was enough to convince me that she had more pride than brains, despite "brains" not being something that she was necessarily lacking.

"Quit exaggerating," I mumbled tiredly. What was it, three in the morning back in Japan? Since we jumped on a plane to Germany right away, that meant that I hadn't had an ounce of sleep in a good while. This body of mine did not handle sleep deprivation well, as I had learned.

She scoffed. "'Exaggerating'? I'm hardly exaggerating."

Oh boy.

"You delegate to me the role of distracting our foe. A _deception_. For me to act in such a manner is unbecoming of a Barthomeloi. Such underhanded tactics are beneath us. We are strong. We are steadfast. We are forthright. We are–"

"You're god-damn exasperating, is what you are," I shot at her. I couldn't help myself.

"You…" growled mini-Barthomeloi.

"Shirou," Kiritsugu reprimanded me with but a word.

No. She needed to understand what was going on right now.

"We are doing everything we can to save two individuals who mean the world to me. If we can't rely on you to give this all you've got, then we don't need you," I told her bluntly.

"No, the extra hands are invaluable," the old man contradicted me. I bristled internally, but I liked to think that I did a good job of keeping a straight face. "If you don't want to go through with this plan, then we can think of something else. Maybe we could–"

"I'll do it."

Both of us were caught off guard by her sudden willingness to do things our way. But hey, if she decided that she wanted to be agreeable for once, then I wouldn't complain. Her thoughts and opinions were her own business as long as they led to a desirable outcome.

Lorelei Barthomeloi being able to pull her head out of her own ass for however short an amount of time was as desirable an outcome as any.

That said, I couldn't help but feel annoyed by how easily the old man was willing to let the woman drag our plan through the dirt at the last minute.

He wasn't thinking straight, but I already knew that much. The real question, however, was "How heavily is this moment weighing on him?"

He was probably starting to lose any hope of being able to see his daughter again before his curse finally does him in, so this was literally a "do or die" moment. I could admit that having someone as powerful as Lorelei Barthomeloi at beck and call was kind of uncommon, but I'm here too, damn it!

Kiritsugu breathed out. "Then it's settled. Leave the bounded fields to us."

To me, actually. Not that I would risk widening the already comically-sized target on my back by correcting him. Barthomeloi didn't need to know anything more about me beyond what she –unfortunately– already did thanks to our happy run-in with Miss Marmite.

"Will you be able to hold on for that long?" I asked her.

"No _homunculus _will ever be a match for a Barthomeloi," she spoke as if it were law. "How powerful they believe themselves to be will not matter."

Hah. Sure, I'll take it. If she gets laid out anyway, it's not my problem as long as she can hold her ground long enough for us to get in, do what we had to do, and get out.

"That settles it then," muttered Kiritsugu. He stood up and walked away from the forest in front of us. I moved to follow. "Let's hurry."

X

We stood a meter back from where Kiritsugu had marked the limit of the first bounded field.

"Go ahead," urged the old man.

I felt my magical reserves take a dip as I projected Rule Breaker, the dagger that was probably the bane of magi everywhere.

The closer we moved towards the bounded field, the more visible it became. Mere inches away, I could make out the ethereal glow of what appeared to be some sort of forcefield.

I wasn't curious enough to find out its true nature. If Kiritsugu said it was bad, then that's all I needed to know.

I nicked the dagger against the Einzbern's defences, and its mystery shattered it just like that.

"You know, that's probably the single most ridiculous trinket I've ever seen," my father commented. "I had to surgically remove two of my ribs to make my origin bullets. I can only use them once, to boot."

Rule Breaker disappeared.

Well when you put it that way, I suppose it _is _pretty nifty.

_BOOM_

The explosion came from about a kilometer and a half south of us, which just so happened to be of a similar distance in a straight line to the front of the Einzbern castle.

It was met by an equally powerful clap of wind. Even all the way over here, I could feel my hair dancing on my head as a result of the disturbance in the air.

Barthomeloi had made contact with the enemy mere seconds after I had disarmed their protective thaumaturgy.

Another explosion, only this time it was visibly closer to the estate.

Another one, closer still.

The bombardments along with our acquaintance's counters were incessant. If anything, they became more frequent as they approached the estate.

Attempts to thwart her attack, as it would turn out, were wholly useless. It took all of ten minutes for the first blade of wind to strike down the castle's tallest tower, and I'd bet most of that time was spent travelling the considerable distance from point A to point B.

Hn. Maybe the girl had her uses after all… as long as she was given the opportunity to go all out with reckless abandon.

"Let's go."

The moment that conflict reached the estate proper, we knew that we were in the clear to move freely. The fact that Barthomeloi managed to make it so far meant that the Einzbern would need to centralize their forces to stop her.

All they knew was that someone had disarmed their bounded field and that a Barthomeloi had decided to attack them– allegedly for trying and failing to kill her and her father. Most likely, the assault and sabotage were led by the same individual.

Not only was it the most obvious explanation, it was the only explanation that they could afford to deal with. A Barthomeloi magus covering the tracks of a hidden enemy? Considering their track record, unthinkable, but also unpreventable.

All in all, it took the old man forty minutes to come up with this plan and to iron out the details– incidentally, it was the same amount of time that we were stuck waiting at the airport for our direct flight from England to Germany.

As a side note, first-class was a pleasant experience, barring the wait time and Barthomeloi's nagging of the flight attendants.

We reached the side of the castle. Kiritsugu lifted a hand over his shoulder, signalling me to stay where I was.

"The walls on the perimeter are three meters thick," he told me. Out from the briefcase he had on his person he took out what must have been more than ten kilos of–

"Are those plastic explosives?" I asked before I could think. "…And didn't you just pass through airport customs with that briefcase as your carry-on?"

"Yes," was his uninformative answer. "C4. Twenty bricks of it more specifically. It's not easy for an old man like me to lug around eleven and a half kilograms of this stuff you know. A good son would have offered to carry it for me."

Ha, ha. Very funny. I'd laugh if I wasn't still trying to figure out how we didn't get arrested.

He attached the detonators and pulled me back.

"We should keep our distance."

_Probably hypnotism, right?_

From a good few hundred meters away, the explosion produced completely removed a side of the castle for us. Kiritsugu said that it was just a record and file room on this end, so Sakura and Illya would probably be fine.

I tilted my head to the side to avoid a stray slab of shattered stone.

_Mhm. Must have been hypnotism._

X

Ignoring the mangled entrance that we made for ourselves, the inside of the property didn't look half bad. I wouldn't go as far as to call it _homey, _but it wasn't necessarily the cold and drab place that I could've easily believed it to be.

For whatever reason, Kiritsugu couldn't tear his eyes away from the broken wall.

"We'll have to find Sakura first," the old man eventually spoke. "I have a pretty good idea of where Illya might be, so we can grab her on the way out."

"Any suggestions?"

He grunted.

"We don't know what they want from her, to begin with. She could be anywhere: the dungeons, a guest bedroom… Jubstacheit's workshop…"

Not much needed to be said to convince me that we did _not _want to find Sakura in the Einzbern's workshop.

"Allow me to cut such queries short."

A tall white-haired man walked into the tattered room. He had a hand on the shoulder of a silently trembling Sakura.

A cold sweat trickled down my spine. No doubt about it, this man was Jubstacheit von Einzbern. Why was he here, though? Barthomeloi was literally tearing his house apart.

"I'm not an idiot, Emiya," he spoke condescendingly. "I would never put it past you to take advantage of the rage of a frenzied bull. Not when I have something that I know you want."

Was he talking about Sakura or Illya? Both, maybe. But how did he know that we were working with–

Oh. He didn't. That's right… we were just taking advantage of an opening, for all he knew.

I looked at Kiritsugu from the corner of my eye. Did he know that the Einzbern head was an individual that would rather spite us than guard his own life? Did he know something _else _that I didn't?

The old man as was stiff as a board. Maybe not, then. "What are you doing here, Acht."

"It's only normal for the head of the house to greet his guests, is it not?"

I'd say the first guest you should "greet" would be the magus tearing your house apart, but that's just me.

Suddenly, the Einzbern laughed.

…Maybe "laughing" might have been an exaggeration, but he _did _breathe out through his nose with a little more force.

"Tell me Emiya, do you feel _accomplished _for taking The Jewel away from me? Did it somehow soothe the spite you feel, knowing that you would never see your precious daughter again? You don't blame _me_, I hope. After all, it's not _my _fault that you can't be bothered to see your agreements through to the end."

Hold on…

"Kischur's Jewel?" I asked despite myself. "We don't have it."

His stoic expression didn't change, so I thought he wouldn't answer me for a moment.

"No, but after a _week _without any word from the good Lord Meluastea, I took it upon myself to find out who does. Mister Archis was quite forthcoming– it's unfortunate that there isn't much we can do with the jewel in Aozaki's hands."

The realization hit me. Edor Archis sold her out? So _that's _why she…

"Of course," he continued to monologue, gripping Sakura's shoulder tighter until she whimpered, "He was kind enough to tell us that the Magus Killer himself had passed by with an equally powerful vessel. I had to take a look for myself… and _my_, the Makiri sure did make themselves quite the peculiar plaything."

My heartbeat quickened.

"It's not needed, however. Two lesser grails are redundant– Illyasviel is all we'll need for the next Heaven's Feel."

"Bastard," growled Kiritsugu angrily. He already knew all of this, didn't he? "To Illya, you…"

"I did what I had to because you _would not. _Call me what you will, fool, but the truth of the matter will not change."

My old man took a deep breath and calmed himself quickly.

"You don't have the upper hand here, Acht. We both know that you aren't a fighter. You've lost."

"You're right about me. I'm not a fighter," agreed the white-haired man. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this…

"But they are."

Two men –homunculi– stepped out from behind the elder Einzbern. They both had bald heads and wore some sort of bodysuit.

"You're insane," muttered Kiritsugu. "You're wasting time here. Split forces won't be enough to hold back someone like Barthomeloi. Is keeping Illya away from me really worth losing your life's work?"

Unsettlingly, Jubstacheit smiled emptily.

"As unusual as it must be for someone like you, Magus Killer, you're mistaken on three different fronts. Firstly, this barely counts as 'split forces'. A cripple and a child will be quick work for these two."

Tch. I'll show _him _quick work…

"Secondly, you either overestimate my attachment to this property or completely misunderstand what my supposed 'life's work' really is. I will retrieve the Holy Grail, and Illyasviel is all that I require to do so."

I kept my mouth shut, but at that moment, I was just as angry as Kiritsugu. The fact that his intentions towards Illya were already clear to me didn't matter.

"Lastly, I'd say it's awfully presumptuous of you to think that I wouldn't prepare for the chance that Christodoulopoulos could not follow through with his plans despite my generosity. I've secured a few… extra hands."

Now that he mentioned it, I hadn't heard the recognizable sound of Barthomeloi's large-scale thaumaturgy in a bit of time. That couldn't spell anything good for her.

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Kiritsugu's plan sounded just fine on the way here, but that was assuming that he had already thought through the more delicate intricacies like he had when dealing with the once-Lord of Kischur. Mannerisms, numbers, and strength of the enemy were things that I fully believed he had under control– even more so considering his past with the Einzbern. I didn't give it a second thought.

I was wrong. Looking at him now, I _knew _that I was wrong.

Emiya Kiritsugu was not in control anymore.

Was it because of the curse wearing him out? Was it nerves? The latter was much less believable, but part of me was unwilling to believe that he was deteriorating so quickly.

**"I am the bone of my sword."**

Retrospectively picking our mistakes apart was a wasted effort. All that we could do now was to take one thing on at a time.

As I had anticipated, the homunculi reacted to my increased magical output by rushing straight for me in an attempt to shut me down before I could act. It wouldn't do them any good, however.

I traced their weapons: a zweihander and a mace.

Both copies appeared afloat between myself and their original owners. A zweihander was met with a zweihander as it came for my head and a mace was met with a mace as it came for my body.

The homunculi froze. In part due to their attacks being stopped in full motion, but I'd assume that it had more to do with the black keys that I had traced behind them and stabbed straight into their shadows.

These two weren't my targets. They were just in the way.

I rushed past them and locked on to the man holding Sakura against her will.

His eyes widened in frustration. "Don't think it will be so easy."

The hand around Sakura's shoulder moved up to grab her by the head.

Sakura won't die.

_I won't let her die. Right now, nothing else matters._

I couldn't trace a weapon fast enough.

I needed to be faster.

**"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."**

The words once more felt like they did something. Like they _meant _something. My soul hardened itself again, though it was through different means and for a purpose that wasn't necessarily similar to what it had been my whole life up until now.

The arm held against Sakura's person was removed from Jubstacheit's body faster than he could react. I grabbed Sakura as securely as my stubby arms would allow and got back to Kiritsugu's side.

A moment later, the Einzbern stared at his stump, then down at the ground where a run-of-the-mill sword was buried next to his severed limb. He didn't so much as grimace, though his expression of indifference became a little more austere.

"You're a strange one, boy."

I cut your arm off, and that's all you have to say? Honestly, for all the inhuman entities that walked this planet, magi really were the weird ones.

I was done talking to him, however.

"Let's get Illya and leave, old man. Those black keys won't last forever."

…

Kiritsugu wasn't answering me. Was he still lost in thought?

"Come on!"

That was enough to snap him out of it.

"Right."

Unnervingly, Jubstacheit just watched us leave.

X

"Are you alright, Sakura?"

She pushed her face deeper into my side.

"I was scared…"

I smiled. Seeing her alive and well brought me indescribable feelings of joy and relief. Honestly, I couldn't remember the last time I felt that way, and I meant that literally.

"It's alright. I told you, didn't I? I'll keep you safe."

We walked back around the castle perimeter, passing by the lifeless vessels of the homunculi that Barthomeloi had already dealt with. Though it was nice to see that she did such a thorough job, it was a little disconcerting that we had lost all sight of her. If she really _was _dead, then whatever killed her was long gone along with her body.

"Where to, old man?"

Kiritsugu pointed to a tower parallel to the first one that Barthomeloi had toppled. It was the only undamaged part of the estate, and I'd go so far as to say that it was spotless.

"Whenever I try to come for her, Acht locks her away in there," he explained. "The first bounded field was just an alarm, but the thaumaturgy on that end of the castle makes it a veritable supernatural stronghold. We won't be able to break in through mundane methods."

That made sense. No wonder he never had much success on this end, considering the condition he was in. With rule breaker, though, it wouldn't be much of an issue.

Although, if he had had already assumed _that _much…

"So did you or _did you not _anticipate that the old bastard would know that we were coming?"

He froze, at a loss for words. "I… I could've sworn that…."

I frowned. Maybe… he really was losing it.

That was a scary thought. What if he screwed up and got Illya killed?

X

Uninterrupted until now, we climbed to the top of the tower. We stopped in front of a pair of large oak doors.

Kiritsugu took a deep breath. I could hear how shaky it was.

I could understand the way he felt. This was probably a moment that he didn't expect to have. He would cherish it, as he should.

Sakura and I stood to the side, letting him enter first.

The occupants of the room were startled by our breaching of their sanctuary. Three white-haired women –a child and two adult maids– looked up from a picture book that they were reading on the bed.

Illya saw the old man. At first, she did nothing. She was as still as a statue, as if scared that a sudden twitch would make him disappear.

Then the tears fell.

"Daddy!" yelled. Before the maids could stop her, she jumped off the bed and crashed into the man.

He held onto her like a lifeline. From where I stood behind him, I saw his back tense from all the emotions he was forcing down.

"I'm here, Illya. Daddy's here."

"Grandpa," she sniffed. "Grandpa said you wouldn't. He said you left, and you–" a sob "–you wouldn't ever, ever come back. Grandpa–"

She couldn't say anything more. Her words failed her and her cries took over.

Meanwhile, I was locked in a staring contest with two cautious-looking maids.

"…"

"…"

It was a little strange, though. None of them seemed to have been phased in any way by everything going on outside the tower. Was the magecraft surrounding this place keeping it and everyone inside so far removed from what was happening around them?

The narrow-eyed one frowned at me distrustfully.

Hey. Seriously? That's no way to be staring at a seven-year-old. Have some shame.

"Emiya Kiritsugu," she spoke, tearing her gaze away from me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for my daughter."

"Master Jubstacheit has forbidden your entry," commented the strange-eyed one. "How did you manage to reach this place?"

"What!?" shrieked Illya, still I held in her father's arms.

The narrow-eyed maid clicked her tongue. "You said too much, Leysritt."

"Ah. Sorry."

Strange. She didn't _sound _very sorry.

Kiritsugu ignored them, instead taking his daughter by the hand. I saw him try and fail to pick her up, but I pretended not to.

"Let's go, Shirou, Sakura."

Illya noticed us for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"Shirou is my adopted son, Illya," the old man told her softly. "Sakura is staying with us for the time being."

How would she feel about that, I wonder. Spiteful? Envious?

She broke away from our father and caught Sakura and me in a bone-crushing hug.

"You can call me Big Sister!"

Hm?

No.

I kept my thoughts to myself and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Shall I pack your bags, Lady Illyasviel?" asked the blank-faced maid.

I narrowed my eyes in distrust.

"You won't try to stop us?"

The colder maid answered, "We exist to serve Lady Illyasviel. If she wants to go, then it is our duty to go with her… despite our personal feelings on the matter. Trying to stop you here would go against our Lady's express wishes."

The old man and I crossed looks. Well wasn't _that _convenient?

X

During our escape, we crossed the center of the castle. That's where we found her lying in the cratered floor.

I made my way up to her inanimate form. I checked for a pulse, and luckily for her, she didn't seem to have kicked the bucket yet. She was just knocked out.

I shook her.

"Hey. Barthomeloi."

Nothing.

I nudged her with my foot.

"Barthomeloi. Get up."

She groaned. Her eyes fluttered open, and I helped sit her upright.

"What happened?"

That seemed to shoot some life into her.

"We need to leave!" she yelled, catching all of us off guard. "We can't–"

She stumbled as she tried to stand, and with my weak little arms, I couldn't do much more than slow her fall.

"You weigh too much," I told her while I took the time to observe her condition properly.

It was hard to see through her conservative garb, but her right leg was bent at a strange angle. She was moving her shoulder pretty gingerly, and her breathing was pretty shallow too.

She pretended not to hear me. "Did you find the girl?"

"Yes–"

"Then hurry up and leave. I won't be able to follow."

I blinked.

"You won't have time to escape if you have to carry me," she explained. "My duty comes before my life, and right now, my duty is to make sure that I don't fail my grandfather a second time."

Anger bubbled inside of me. "Is this supposed to be some sort of 'noble sacrifice' to you? Get over yourself. We'll slow down if we have to."

Tough luck trying to get Aozaki's sealing designation revoked if we let boss-man Barthomeloi's granddaughter die on us.

She matched my annoyed expression. "You don't understand, boy. It won't be long until–"

She was cut off as the empty-eyed maid came to her side and quickly tossed her over her shoulder. Barthomeloi huffed in pain from the rough treatment.

The maid looked at me with a nod. "No time… right?"

I was mildly surprised. She was stronger than she looked.

…

Something was here.

"Rho Aias!"

I acted just in time.

A bronze giant was upon us in an instant. Two axes slammed into the petals of the Noble Phantasm, shattering the first layer.

I grunted.

"You didn't think it would be _that _easy, did you?" asked Jubstacheit evenly. He appeared before us flanked by the same two homunculi that I had trapped earlier. The giant made its way to his side.

At this moment, neither Jubstacheit nor the two homunculi worried me. I was infinitely more concerned about _the heroic spirit that had just tried to kill us_.

"Barthomeloi. That's the thing you wanted us to run away from, isn't it?"

"Yes," she confirmed to my complete and utter dread.

She was right. We should have left her and gotten away while we still could.

Those strange weapons in its hands… this was Darius the Third, king of Persia.

This wasn't possible.

"How?" I shouted. "There's no way that the Holy Grail would have enough power to cast the Third Magic so soon."

The Einzbern head scoffed. "It really isn't all that impressive, boy. This thing is no servant. It's nothing more than an empty shell. A _powerful _shell, but still a shell."

"Master Jubstacheit, please reconsider," asked the prickly maid in an artificially calm tone of voice. "Lady Illyasviel wishes to leave with her father. Surely there isn't–"

"Enough. I made you to look after the girl's needs, not to talk back to me." He hummed. "I suppose that I will be forced to scrap you and start from scratch. I had not accounted for this behaviour."

She looked uneasy, though the one carrying Barthomeloi didn't seem phased in the slightest. Kiritsugu pushed the two scared children behind him protectively.

"And _you_, Emiya…"

He glared at my father. It was the clearest display of emotion that I had seen from him yet.

"You will be a thorn in my side no longer. I wasn't able to procure enough magical power to fuel this project correctly, and so I was forced to settle for this _incomplete product _in order to respond to your haste."

This was an "incomplete product"? The bastard managed to summon a servant without command spells, albeit one without its soul projected from the Throne of Heroes. If he had managed to get Kischur's jewel as he had intended… what was he scheming?

The vessel of the ancient king of Persia roared and barreled our way

Seriously… this sort of thing wasn't fair at all. Cut me a break already.

**"I am the bone of my sword."**

Let's see if we could figure something out.


End file.
